


Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Sinful World

by Lugialvr1994



Series: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ruins of Civilization [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Complete, Eventual Romance, Gen, Gen Work, Legendary Pokemon - Freeform, Male Protagonist, Multi, Sequel, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-09-22 16:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 69,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9616787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lugialvr1994/pseuds/Lugialvr1994
Summary: In the final main installment of the PMD: Ruins of Civilization series, sometimes "defective" is the best thing to be.





	1. Prologue: New Servants of the Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are, the beginning of the canonical final ROC story. I first want to thank anyone out there who has bothered to read this far. Now, down to business... This story is the third main installment in the PMD:ROC series and the fourth in total. Therefore, before reading this story, I would strongly advise reading the other three first so as to have the proper context for the series' past. Like my other works, this story has already been finished and rough-edited. New chapters, as usual, will be posted every Tuesday and Friday, normally in the morning. 
> 
> To add, this story takes place in the same setting as my three previous works. However, it takes place around a century after the end of my second story. This work will probably feel more like a war story than my three previous works, which still had war elements to them. Also, there will be a small degree of modern to science fiction elements in this story, more so than in the previous three works. This is planned to be the final part of he ROC series. However, Author's Cut editions of stories in the series are still possible. I have also been considering writing a more human-centered "Mega Prequel" to the whole main series. This will ultimately still stand as the final story in terms of the timeline of the ROC setting. I will write nothing else in the same universe that takes place after this story's epilogue almost certainly. 
> 
> Finally, the opening chapter of this story is a prologue, unlike the opening chapters of my three previous works. So, do not expect to see the main character appear in this opening chapter.

90 years after the near apocalypse:

            The small island, on which the ancient stone temple stood, was located at the center of an archipelago of islands. The archipelago was located to the southeast of the Frontier Continent. The temple was a colossal structure, made of dark gray stone. The near entirety of the building was a massive dome, with a few open, circular, windows positioned to let in a degree of light.           

            The grand avian, Lugia, soared in closer to the temple. Once she was nearly at her destination, she saw that a small boat had arrived and was docked near the temple, as she had planned. She thought, “I do not see Henrietta, it appears that she found the side entrance that I told her about.”

            When Lugia finally landed on a stone landing near the main door to the temple. An aging male Charizard slowly disembarked from her back. He looked up at Lugia and said, “My Lady, I still do not know why we have come here. However, I am sorry that I could not fly myself, this time.”  

            Lugia looked down and nodded, she replied, “Diego, you have served as my loyal consort for decades now. You are nearing the end of your natural life. I have brought you here, to this ancient and sacred place to offer you a deal, which you may either take or refuse. Before I say any more, we will enter the temple.”

            Lugia stepped up to the temple’s massive front gate, which was currently closed. She then focused inwards and began to glow, vaguely. As Diego watched, the door to the temple began to glow with the same light and then creak open.

            Once the door was open, Lugia and Diego walked inside. Lugia explained, “This temple predates humanity. It was built as a sacred place for Legendary Pokémon. Arceus was still actively around when this place was built. I believe that their energies permeate this place, still. That is how I, as a daughter of Arceus, was able to open the main door.”

            Diego nodded his understanding and the pair continued to walk deeper into the building. It was not long until they found themselves in the, truly massive, inner chamber of the temple. Diego looked surprised to see three altars, each the appropriate size for a normal Pokémon to lie on. On one of them was the, well-preserved, corpse of a female Skarmory. A, still alive, but elderly female Combusken had lain herself down on the third altar, she then saw the new arrivals and said, “Lady Lugia, you are here. I have readied everything that you asked for. The two brews are ready.”

            After finishing her statement, the Combusken held up a cup, which contained a deep purple potion of some sort.

            Diego, seeing that there was a second brew awaiting whoever laid on the middle altar, asked Lugia, “My Lady, what is going on? What is the deal that you wish to make with me?”

            Lugia then nodded and explained, “The same deal that I made with Henrietta here. You may recognize her as one of the deputies from Semberta Town. She served Takara loyally and now wants to serve me. As for the Skarmory, that is Valeria. She once served the Imperium, but then saw the error of her ways and defected after Mewtwo was killed. She served Hillcrest city as its mayor and then allowed them to elect a replacement. She still feels guilt for her actions in life, however. I offered her, when we met, a way to live on for the good of Pokémon-kind”

            Diego then asked, “There is a middle altar, am I supposed to go and lie on it?”

            Lugia then said, “Diego, you have been my consort for years. I have taken to wondering how I lived, for thousands of years, before I met you. However, you are to die soon. You have given, most of, your life to me. I do not want to take the afterlife from you. The ritual that I am about to perform is akin to what my brother, Ho-oh, did to bring Entei, Raikou and Suicune into existence… and give them potential immortality. If you will accept, you can take the lethal brew and die. You, and the other two here, will then be reborn into new bodies as my immortal servants. Diego, these two have volunteered for this. I love you and I do not want to force you to do anything. The choice is yours, allow yourself to live out your life as my consort and then die when you are ready to… Or, accept my offer and become a new Legendary Pokémon. However, if you accept, then our current arrangement would continue. You would be my consort for as long as we both survive.”

            Diego looked up at Lugia and then said, “I will accept your offer, my Lady. Here is why. You, at minimum, implied that, if I said yes, you would love me enough to spend a theoretical eternity with me. You do not want to be alone, again, or find any new consort or lover. Because you want us to be together for as long as possible, I will be willing to take on a new form and gain functional immortality.”

            Lugia smiled down at Diego and replied, “I would have said yes, for your sake, if you had been comfortable with dying of old age. I would not have forced you to take this deal. Now, lie on the altar. It is time for the ritual to begin, my love.”

            Diego walked over to and then lay down on the altar in the middle. Then, Lugia instructed him, and Henrietta, to drink their entire brew. Lugia watched them drink the brew, she knew that it was a unique and rare poison that would only work when ingested in large quantities and would kill any normal sized and non-legendary, Pokémon who ingested it.

            She was correct, as Diego and Henrietta’s hearts stopped beating within a minute of them drinking the brew.

            Lugia then surveyed the three dead bodies on the altars and then thought of how much Diego, and Henrietta, trusted her. She would not betray them. Lugia raised her arms/wings and then shouted and thought, “Yveltal, great King of the Dead I ask you for the souls of the three Pokémon, whose bodies are on the present altars! Return them to their bodies so that I may transform them into their new forms!”

            A male voice echoed in Lugia’s head, “Of course, my Lady. However, keep in mind that, without an order from Arceus commanding me to release more souls, you may only do this once. And Arceus, wherever they are, respects the barrier between life and death.”

            Lugia thought back, “Yes, Yveltal. Now, return the souls to their bodies so that I may begin the transformation!”

            All three of the bodies on the altars began to glow with a faint green glow. Lugia then focused inward, intensely, and felt immense pain as she was able to, forcefully, extract some of her own supply of inherent energy. The ball of natural, pure, energy flowed out of Lugia and into the space between her arm-wings. She then divided the sphere of energy into three separate spheres and shouted, “Lets see how this works out. I cannot, fully, control this power!”

            Lugia then launched one sphere into each of the glowing corpses. The entire room was filled with a blinding light and Lugia recoiled a bit. Then, the light cleared up and Lugia looked to see three new living forms, still heavily dazed, on the altars, where Valeria, Diego and Henrietta had been.

            Valeria then got up and looked Lugia in the eyes, she said, “So, you did fulfill your end of the bargain, Lady Lugia. My body feels much the same, but bigger and…colder?”

            Lugia looked Valeria over and then replied, “Valeria, your body was fused with the power of Ice. This had made you an incarnation of the frost, its beauty and its chill. You are now to be known as Articuno!”

            After Valeria/Articuno nodded and then bowed, Lugia turned to face Diego. As he got up, he said, his voice now youthful again, “It worked! But, I feel…so different. I think that I am still…”

            Lugia then nodded, grinned, and told Diego, “Shocked? My love, you, oddly enough, were physically fused with the power of Lightning. You have become an incarnation of lightning, its speed and its destructive potential. You will now be known as Zapdos! …However, I might still call you Diego from time to time.”

            Diego/Zapdos bowed to his lady and then flew up into the air and landed by her side. Then, as Articuno was circling the temple, practicing maneuvering her, now larger, body through the air, Lugia turned to Henrietta.

            Henrietta got up and then said, “I live again! I still feel the power of fire coursing through my veins! Also, it looks like I can fly now! I know that you three are used to it, but I am not.”

            Lugia nodded and said to Henrietta, “Henrietta, you were not fused with a new element, like the two others were. In your new form, you have become an incarnation of the wildfire, its regenerative potential and its burning fury. You will now be known as Moltres!”

            Moltres seemed very excited by her new body and power. However, she still bowed low and said to Lugia, “As per our deal, I will do whatever you wish of me. This gift, of a new life, which you have bestowed upon me is great, indeed.”  

            Articuno then asked Lugia, “So, we all are now your followers, in exchange for potential everlasting life. Still, for me, this is about atonement. Anyway, where do we go now?”

            Lugia focused her, remaining, inherent energy and the top of the temple opened out into a large, circular hole. She then shouted, “We will fly to an island in this area, which is near an oceanic trench that I used to reside in. We will then make a base of operations there and see what we can, currently, do for the world. Follow me through the top of the temple!”

            With Zapdos right behind Lugia, Articuno in third place and Moltres in fourth. Seeing as though she had no flying experience Moltres was acting on new instincts. The four airborne Pokémon flew east, together.


	2. Defective in Custody

\---

                                                                                                                                     10 Years Later

            It was a small cell, the bars had a dark brown coloration to them, and so did the rest of the room. A single male Froakie stood, near the bars of the cell. A pair of Power Inhibitor handcuffs bound his wrists. Across the hall from the Froakie’s cell, in another, essentially identical, cell a female Treecko was cuffed in the same way that he was. She was standing up, her back facing the bars of her cell.

            The Froakie, leaned toward the bars of his cell and asked, “Why won’t you talk to me? I, at least, tried to tell you the truth!”

            The Treecko replied, “I do not know why you are in there, but you are not a normal Pokémon… #709. I know what you are, and I will not risk telling you anything. Your Protectorate masters might have put you in there as a, clever, way of interrogating me, and you would not have refused to participate in that plan.”

            The Froakie, who had just been called #709, took offense at his fellow prisoner’s suggestions. He responded, “They are no longer my masters. I am in here for trying to stop them from doling out an overzealous ‘punishment.’ I failed, and got caught in the process. They think that I am ‘defective.’ Whatever they do to you, what they do to me may be far worse.”

            The Treecko did not seem to care what #709 said, she did not reply, expect to say, “From what I heard, the fate that they have in store for me will not be pleasant either. As to why I am here, that is not your business. Also, if you are lying, you may already know why I am here.”

            As #709 was trying to think of what to say to his fellow captive, to try and change her mind about him, the door at the end of the cell-block, which was to the right of him, opened. A male Bagon, wearing a dark green sash, walked up to the cell where the Treecko was being held. A male Electrike, wearing a light green sash, was accompanying the Bagon.

            #709 grimaced at the Electrike. He knew that he had once worn the same kind of sash.

            The captive Treecko, after the Bagon was standing next to her cell, whirled around and grabbed the bars with both hands. She then shouted at him, “Joel, why did you turn me in? I thought we were friends? Now, Arceus knows what they will do to me!”

            Joel calmly responded, “Amber, you were a thief. It is true that you avoided harming anyone in the process. However, you are still a criminal and need to be punished. Now that the Protectorate is in charge of our home, they are the ones we need to report to.”

            Amber then asked, “Could you, at least, do me a favor and tell me what the deal is with the ‘Sinless’ Froakie. He keeps telling me that he was declared defective and locked up here to await some sort of grisly fate.”

            Joel then sighed and responded, “Well, Amber, he is not lying. That is #709, one of the few defective Sinless that have been produced. Actually, you two are both to be transferred to the mainland soon. I don’t envy either of you. He is to be reprogrammed, and if that fails, destroyed. You are to be a test subject, for… they have not told me, or anyone whom I have talked with here what.”

            #709 shouted, as Amber, Joel and the Sinless Electrike turned to look at him, “You want to ‘reprogram’ me. That would make me no longer me… I will not let you do that!”

            The Electrike shouted back, “It is not your choice, traitor! You have defied the wishes of our mistress, the Herald. You will either be fixed or ended.”

            Joel then added, “What he said. Anyway, we will both be back in around an hour to prepare you two for transfer onto the transport barge docked at this base.”

            Amber glared back at Joel and then the two guards left.

            Once both guards were gone, #709 looked over at Amber and shouted, “Do you believe me now? I do not know about your relationship with that Bagon, Joel, either way, we need to escape, somehow. I refuse to let the Protectorate’s scientists make me into a mindless drone!”

            Amber smiled and #709 and said, “We will not reach that barge. I will not be experimented on and you will not be either. Trust me, that is all that I can say for now.”

            #709 looked surprised at Amber and then said, “Ok, I am not sure why you are so confident now. However, I guess that I have no alternative, but to trust you.”

            Amber smiled and nodded, she then told him, “When Joel and that Electrike arrive, act defiant, but not too defiant. Do not say anything that I have told you to them. You will regret it if you do.”

            #709 nodded his understanding and then, the pair of captives waited for the next hour to pass.

            When the hour came to its conclusion, Joel and his Electrike escort arrived. Joel said, “Ok, it would be the best of you two to not resist. You are both being officially transferred to the mainland, effective immediately.”

            Amber glared at Joel as he unlocked her cell’s door and marched her out. Then, with the Sinless Electrike nearby, watching carefully, #709 was taken out of his cell. He struggled as convincingly as Joel and his assistant marched both prisoners out of the cellblock and through a building filed with Pokémon wearing green sashes.

            Eventually, they reached a large door, which, when opened led out into a concrete-floored courtyard, with a number of boats and barges docked nearby. Supply crates dotted the area. There was a massive, metal gate on the other side of the open space. Joel and his Electrike marched Amber and #709 toward a large, dark green, barge. The barge bore a symbol that looked like a white capital “P” with an eye in the letter’s hole. That was the symbol that also adorned all of the flags, banners, nautical vehicles and crates in the facility.

            As the small procession was almost to the barge, the sound of alarm bells rang out and a large number of Sinless and their allies rushed toward the metal gate. The Protectorate forces stood ready at the gate, when it was blown to pieces by a massive burst of fire. As the smoke cleared, the Protectorate units, who survived the initial blast, fired their best ranged moves into the smoke left by the explosion. Then, a large, yellow, canine Pokémon ran out into the middle of the Protectorate force and dropped a number of them with a single Discharge move.

            Joel shouted, to the Sinless Electrike, “They are breaking in through the main gate! I will guard our prisoners. Go help the remaining troops to hold them off!”

            The Electrike nodded and charged towards the fray, as more Pokémon burst in through the ruined gate. The source of the explosion was revealed to be a bulky, brown and red canine that rushed into the Protectorate force. He used Lava Plume to hit every foe that closed in on him.

            With the Electrike moving towards the battle, not showing any signs of fear of his powerful enemies, Joel quickly unlocked Amber’s handcuffs, saying, “The plan seems to have worked. We are in behind their main force. Now, we will destroy this base and fall back before more enemies arrive!”

            Amber smiled at Joel and said, “Yes sir! I think that my acting, pretending to be enraged with you before, was very good, personally.”

            Joel grinned back at Amber and then fired a Dragon Breath into the Electrike. The Electrike turned to see what had happened, after having been struck. As the confused Electrike stared at Joel. A male Archen flew over the battle and used Rock Throw to snipe the Electrike in the head, downing him.

            After Amber shouted, “Nice of you to join the party, Maurice.” She turned to see a pair of Sinless Tirtouga approaching them from the water.

            Amber and Joel each took a Bite from the charging Tirtouga. Then, Amber used Absorb to heal herself of her injuries and, severely weaken her opponent.

            After Joel finished off Amber’s foe with a second Dragon Breath, #709 shouted, “Are any of you going to let me out of these cuffs? I could help you?”

            Maurice used a second Rock Throw to dent the, remaining, Tirtouga and then landed, asking, “Who is this guy?” He then withstood a Water Gun from the Tirtouga.

            Amber used another Absorb, this one being partially resisted by her foe. She then said, “When Joel was pretending to be an Aspiring, they told him that that is a ‘defective’ Sinless. We need to ask Samara what she thinks we should do with him.”

            Joel then used a Bite on the last Tirtouga. His fangs ripping into his foe’s shell.

            After the Tirtouga’s skin deflected another Rock Throw from Maurice, a female Luxio, charged him. She dropped him with a Spark.

            Maurice then looked to the Luxio and added, “Samara, ma’am, that was an impressive strike. Now, what’s the plan?”

            Samara, looked over Joel, Amber and Maurice and then said, “We need to help Entei, Raikou and their assault squad to clear out the remaining Sinless and Aspiring. Then, we destroy this base using any explosives that we can find, and powerful moves, of course. After that, back to the mountain fortress! Now, who is the Froakie wearing the handcuffs?”

            Joel stepped up and answered Samara’s question, “Squad Leader, he is, according to what I was told, a rogue Sinless who tried and failed to stop a young Zorua thief from being executed by the Protectorate. He was in their custody and is very resistant to the idea of being ‘reprogrammed’ by them.

            Samara thought briefly and then said, “Well, he is our prisoner now. We will take him back to the mountain and see if we can confirm that he is no longer loyal to the ‘Herald,’ whoever she is.”

            Amber looked a bit uneasy with the plan and gave #709 an apologetic look.

            #709 then exclaimed, “Miss Samara, I do not serve the Protectorate any longer. They are hypocrites, who say that they stand for goodness and perfection, but whose actions to not line up with their words. Please, release me and I will come with you peacefully!”

            Samara nodded her head no and then said, “If you are being honest, then I am sorry. However, I cannot take the risk to myself, or my squad, that you are some kind of spy. Amber, Joel, Maurice, make sure that he is watched and cannot walk around, freely. Now, let’s make sure that our leaders, and the assault squad, have eliminated the enemy garrison here.”       

            Samara led her squad, whose members marched #709 with them, the front gate, where the surprised Protectorate forces had been defeated. The assault squad started to place crates of, what #709 assumed were explosives, next to all of the important buildings and docked barges in the garrison. Then, they prepared to light fuses, using either their natural attacks or matches.

            The larger canine Pokémon, Entei, was barking out orders as the squad approached Raikou, his younger brother. Samara said, her voice completely serious and official, “Sir, the docks appear secure and the Protectorate seems to have fled this facility. We have taken this; supposedly, rogue ‘Sinless’ as a prisoner. He wants us to free him, and claims that he will come with us, willingly.”

            Raikou told Samara, “Good work, Recon Squad #1 is whole again after the success of your subordinate’s plan. I have to admit that Amber was brave to volunteer herself to be captured. So was Joel, for infiltrating the Aspiring, if only we could have more permanent spies within that force, that would be useful. As for our new captive, we take him back to the mountain fortress. We will interrogate him there.”

            As Samara nodded, #709 groaned. Then, Entei shouted, “All Western Resistance units, we are falling back. Light the fuses. The total of less than twenty Pokémon retreated from the garrison, after the fuses were lit. A number of large explosions rocked the ground as #709 was forced onto Samar’s back and then taken away from the garrison, along with the retreating resistance force. They all saw a large number of Pokémon wearing green sashes heading for the garrison’s ruins. However, #709 and the resistance were already far up the road to the island’s central mountain by the time that the Protectorate reinforcements arrived.

            As #709 rode Samara up the mountain path, he thought, “I have traded one group of captors for another. At least these Pokémon will not try to ‘reprogram’ me.”

            #709 decided that, for the time being it would be unwise to resist the resistance, as they rapidly traveled towards the imposing fortress close to the top of the ancient mountain.


	3. The Mountain Fortress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick reminder to my readers, in case I did not mention this at the start of this story, due to when this was written, there are no Pokémon or other content from the newly released seventh generation in this series. I also want to announce that I have started work on another ROC Prequel story that will depict the downfall of humankind in the ROC setting. That story, if it is finished and posted, will be told from a human perspective and show human society before its destruction. Anyway, thank you all for reading once again.

It was two evenings from the attack on the Protectorate Coastal Garrison when the Western Resistance force managed to reach the massive castle, which was situated close to the peak of the island’s central mountain.

            Upon the procession’s arrival at the castle, a large gate was opened, to allow entrance. The gate closed after the entire procession had entered.

            #709 was blindfolded upon entering the castle’s courtyard. Samara’s Recon Squad #1 then led him, down, what felt like, a few flights of stairs. When his blindfold was removed, #709 was still cuffed and was now in a medium-size cell. The walls were made of the same light-grey stone that made up the majority of the fortress.

            As her comrades left the dungeon, Amber told #709, “Apparently Raikou is going to interrogate you tomorrow. You should answer whatever he asks you, truthfully. If you really are who you say you are, then we should have no reason to not release you.”

            #709 Responded, “I would like to be let go as soon as possible. However, if you really find this all to be necessary…then fine, I have no choice in the matter, it seems.”

            Amber nodded apologetically and then left the dungeon to return to her own quarters.

            #709 did his best to rest the night. He felt relieved that he was, at least, safe from the Protectorate, for the time being.

            The next morning, #709 had been fed a small breakfast and was waiting in his new cell. It was only, what felt like, a few hours until Maurice and Samara arrived.

            Samara ordered Maurice, “Unlock the cell door. As for you, #709, we are to take you to Raikou, the second in command of our resistance. He will be in charge of trying to figure out who you really are.”

            Maurice unlocked the cell door and, then, he escorted #709 out of the cell. #709 said, “I will cooperate with you. Since I just want to be released, I will answer your boss’s questions as best as I can.”

            Samara nodded and then, #709 was taken upstairs to a large room that acted as Raikou’s “office.” The large, four-legged, canine was waiting for the trio of Pokémon. He ordered, “Maurice, you are dismissed, for now. #709, as you are called, have a seat on the stool, behind the table. Samara, I want you to stand guard at the door. I might want a second opinion on whatever he tells us.”

            After Maurice saluted, with a wing, and left, Samara, sounding very deferential, said, “Of course, my Lord. I will stay here while you interrogate the prisoner.”

            Raikou chuckled and then added, “Samara, you know that I am not considered a ‘Lord.’ Of course, your loyalty is always appreciated.”

            As #709 sat down on the stool, behind the table, Samara replied, “Just as my ancestors served you, I do the same. That is why I call you my Lord.”

            Raikou nodded as #709 made a mental note of what Samara had said. Raikou then began, “So, #709… before there is to be any chance of us freeing you, we need to know more about you. First, do you know what you are?”

            #709 looked up at the intimidating canine and then answered, “Well, sir, I am…or was a ‘Sinless.’”

            Raikou nodded and then added, “Yes, you are a ‘Sinless,’ a cloned Pokémon. You were made to serve the Protectorate and its mysterious goals. From what source, I do not know. We have heard of rogue sinless before. However, they normally either become complete pacifists and refuse to fight for their masters, or they go insane and attack any Pokémon in sight. You seem very stable for a rogue ‘Sinless.’ From what Joel tells us, you were locked up for trying to stop a Protectorate execution?”

            #709 sighed and nodded, he then said, “I followed the Protectorate loyally, when I was deployed to this island. The Protectorate’s leadership did not know that I lacked the same, unquestioning, loyalty that most Sinless have. However, when I saw how they treat both all criminals and anyone who does not meet their standards of ‘aspiring toward perfection,’ I began to have doubts. Through their intolerance of imperfect behavior, they have become willing to become cruel themselves. I could not stand the hypocrisy any longer. When I was among the guards at a public execution, I tried to intervene and save the captured Zorua thief. However, he was still killed and I was arrested by the other Sinless in the vicinity.”

            Raikou then nodded, he said, “So, you know what you are. That is good. However, we need some way to validate your story. Samara, I need you to go talk to the Pokémon here who manage our spies. See if they can confirm that what #709 here is talking about actually happened.”

            Samara nodded and then, quickly, left. Raikou then asked #709, “So, now that we have an idea as to how you ended up here, what do you want?”

            #709 took little time to respond, “First, I would love for you to let me go. Second, I honestly, just want a ‘normal’ life. I do not, really, want to fight anyone, per se. I only tried to save that Zorua, because it was the right thing to do. If you will let me go, then I will leave this island, and this conflict, and not return. At least, while the conflict continues.”

            Raikou sighed and pointed out, “Your goal sounds understandable, but not particularly noble. It seems that you do not wish to fight the Protectorate, which sought to erase your personality or destroy you. You should know, that the Sinless have created a naval and airborne blockade of the region that the Western Continent, and this Island form together. Only one Pokémon that we know of has been able to pierce the blockade’s patrols. And, I know, personally, that she is quite fast on the water. You will not be able to leave this conflict so easily. I am not lying to you about that.”

            #709’s heart sank, he then said, “If I cannot escape the Protectorate, then, I am still in danger of being mentally erased by them. If you are being honest with me… then, that means that I will have to fight them. So that I can find a place where I can be, permanently, safe from them!”

            Raikou nodded and then said, “We can always use new recruits. Our enemy outnumbers us by quite a margin. We have been forced to use ‘hit and run’ tactics in order to avoid being overwhelmed by their response units.”

            #709 then mentioned, “If you would allow be to join your resistance, than could I at least know why you all are fighting the Protectorate? They always say that those who fight the Protectorate are resisting the creation of a perfect world.’”

            Raikou responded, “My brother, Entei and I served the Lord Ho-oh, the master of this castle. When ‘horror stories’ about the emerging Protectorate and their army of cloned Pokémon emerged, from refugees fleeing the Western Continent, our Lord led an army of Pokémon, under his banner, to try and engage the Protectorate in battle. We were to stay and guard the castle, together, against any attacks. The last messenger that we got back from the main force told us that landfall had been made and that they were advancing toward a huge Protectorate force on the plains of the Western Continent. Then, nothing, no word from Lord Ho-oh or any of his followers came back to us. Then, about a month after we lost contact with our allies, the Protectorate’s armies began to land to the south and east of here, on our island. Entei was forced to declare himself in command of Ho-oh’s loyalists and establish the Western Resistance to try and repel or destroy the Protectorate. We sent my lover Suicune to retrieve Lord Ho-oh’s sister, the Lady Lugia. Suicune breached the blockade, but has not yet returned. We all hope that she finds Lugia and returns with significant help. That is all that I can say, for now.”

            At that point, Samara re-entered the room, she said, “Sir, the archives do show that a cell of our spies had witnessed, while undercover as civilians, the execution that #709 mentioned. We can confirm that he did try to intervene and attacked his fellow Sinless. He was then, brutally, apprehended. The whole thing did not look either planned or fake, according to our records.”

            Raikou smiled as #709 looked relieved. Then, Raikou said, “Samara, I think that we might be able to add our new friend to your squad. Entei is meeting with Joel now. Go get Maurice and Amber, so that we can unbind him.”

            Samara said, “Of course, my Lord. She then left the room, again.”

            Raikou then turned to the, now immensely relieved, #709. He said, “Ok, if you are to be one of us, you will need an actual name. #709 is your ‘Sinless’ code-number. I assume you will want to be rid of it.”

            #709 nodded and responded, “Yes, now that you mention it, a name would be wonderful. I do not want to be called by my Sinless number anymore. Being named will show my full split with the Protectorate.”

            Raikou then offered, “Hmmm… how about Sven, then? I know that it sounds a lot like #709. However, it is an actual name. The final decision, about what others will call you, is up to you.”

            #709 thought for a moment and then said, “Well, I would like to think that one cannot, and maybe should not, fully disown their past. Therefore, the name Sven does work for me, actually. I know that it sounds a lot like the number 709. However, it will make sure that I never forget what I am fighting for, freedom from reprogramming. So, Sven it is.”

            Raikou nodded as Samara, Amber and Maurice entered the office. Samara then ordered Amber to unlock and remove Sven’s cuffs, which she did.

            Sven then rubbed his wrists as he felt a surge of energy well up in his body. After Sven was unbound, Raikou instructed Samara, Amber, Maurice and Sven to follow him.

            Raikou led the four Pokémon into a large room where Entei was waiting for them. Joel was there with him. The briefing room was at the top of the castle’s main building and had a large window facing the north. It had a number of tables, with maps on most of them, scattered around it. There were some vines crossing the room. Also, there was a small water channel going parallel to the wall that faced the ocean.

            Entei asked his brother, “Why has the Sinless been freed? We do not want to risk a breach of security, especially not with all of the Protectorate forces amassing on this island. Their number of troops here is growing by the day!”

            Raikou responded to Entei, “We have discovered that his story does check out. After being informed that the Protectorate is blockading this area, preventing him from fleeing the conflict, he has agreed to join with us. We will assign him to Recon Squad #1. I trust Samara to be able to watch over him and make sure that he does not betray us.”

            Sven then added, “If the Protectorate is destroyed or repelled, than, I will be safe from having my personality erased by them. I have a vested interest in working with you to stop them. In fact I wish I had been told more, when I was still with them. That way, I could possibly tell you who their supreme leader, the ‘Herald,’ is. Or, at least, I could tell you about her inner circle. Most Sinless are never given that information, however.”

            Entei then responded, “We are aware that the Herald’s identity is a well guarded secret, of the Protectorate. Otherwise, we would know who she is by now. Anyway, if my second in command, who is also my brother trusts you, then we will assign you to Recon Squad #1.”

            Joel then added, “I am sorry to tell all of you this, especially Amber. But, I have been asked to take over leadership of a new Recon Squad. Apparently, #709 is to be my replacement.”

            At that point, a male Kecleon entered the room. A female Remoraid swam in through the channel, at the same time. They both looked up at Entei who said, “These are Miles and Chloe, they will be your new subordinates, Joel.”

            As the others watched, Miles walked up to Joel and shook his hand, with his claw, saying, “I was a small-time merchant, previously. The Protectorate does not take well to most private enterprise, however. That is why I am here. After having to flee my home because of the Protectorate, I do not want to let them expand any further!”

            Chloe then said, “My family were, actually, escorts for ocean-going traders. The Protectorate blockade put us out of business. I am here to help fight back against them. I am not able to move very fast, on land. However, my specialty is ranged combat. If you set me down on an advantageous place, I can snipe at our enemies from a distance and bring down as many as I can. Once I evolve into Octillery I hope that I will be able to move around myself, with greater ease.”

            As Joel nodded, Miles added, “I will try to help you in fights in whatever way I can, sir. I think that I am less specialized than Chloe, though.”

            Joel nodded and then asked, “I see that I will be replaced on Samara’s squad. Therefore, they will have four members, but my Recon Squad #2 will only have three? Where is our fourth Pokémon?”

            Entei responded, “Joel, as you know, we have only so many Pokémon on our side, as of now. Therefore, we only had those two new recruits to put into Recon Squad #2. We will have to wait and see if a new squad member appears for you, later.”

            Joel sighed and nodded, knowing that the resistance only had so many Pokémon to spare.

            Samara then turned to Sven and said, “Well, Sven, welcome to Recon Squad #1. You will be joining myself, Amber and Maurice on our future missions, while Joel leads his own squad now. Just keep in mind that you are to follow my orders, from now on. Understood?”

            Sven, knowing that he both owed the resistance for saving him from being transferred onto the barge by the Protectorate and that they were his best bet at a life safe from reprogramming, said, “I understand ma’am. I will follow your orders.”       

            Raikou then finished, “Ok, we have our new squads. We will keep an eye out for another recruit for Recon Squad #2. Anyway, all of you are dismissed for the rest of the day, at least. Recon Squad #1, please locate an empty room for Sven here to sleep in. He will not be returning to his cell, obviously.”

            As Joel was leaving, with his new subordinates in tow, Amber said, “Alright, let’s find a room for Sven.”

            Recon Squad #1 then headed off to a nearby castle tower, in order to find a place for Sven to stay in.


	4. Getting Settled In

Sven was following his new squad-mates, Amber, Maurice and their leader, Samara, across the courtyard of the, ancient mountain fortress. The four of them were heading for another building, within the fortress, which was attached to one of the four towers at the corners of the walls.

            As they were walking, Samara mentioned, “Ok, Sven, if we are to find you a room, then we should consult the Recon division’s quartermaster. She should be able to help us out.”

            Sven nodded and responded, “Yes ma’am, thank you all for being willing to help me.”

            Amber then added, “Well, Sven, as you are now called, we are supposed to be working together now. We need to be able to help each other out, even in low-stress situation, if we are to work well as a team when it counts.”

            Maurice then sighed and said, “I am still going to keep my eye on you, ‘Sven.’ We all know what you were and are. To be frank, I do not trust you entirely, yet.”

            Sven seemed moderately frustrated and then responded, “You are probably afraid that I will go back to the Protectorate and betray you all. However, you should keep in mind that I am helping your resistance so that I can live a life free from the fear of being mentally overwritten by my former masters.”

            Samara then declared, “If my Lord, Raikou, has ordered that you shall be in my unit, than I will treat you as I treat the others.”

            Sven, as they neared the building’s entrance, asked Samara, “Ma’am, do inform me, why are you so loyal to Raikou, anyway?”

            Samara then, turned her head back to look at Sven and began, “Members of my family have been servants of Raikou for centuries. Even when humanity reigned supreme, my kin followed the orders of our lord. Raikou, his brother and his mate, Suicune, were all once mortals. They are, therefore, less arrogant than many other Legendary Pokémon. We do not remember the original pact or incident that led my ancestors to serve Raikou, but we remain faithful to him, nonetheless.”

            Sven then asked, “So, does everyone in your family serve Raikou, then?”

            Samara chuckled a bit and then said, “My family only picks around one member per generation to receive the honor of being a retainer to our lord. I was selected, most recently, to receive the honor. I was always a well-behaved child, and I expressed great loyalty to both my family, and our lord. I was allowed to draw power from my family’s treasure, an ancient human TM machine that contains the move Thunderbolt. Once I had done that, I was sent to Raikou and he accepted me. Since then, I have devoted my life to him.”

            As the group was nearly to the door, and Amber was about to open it, Sven asked, “I should probably try to learn more about Amber and Maurice here as well. However, I must ask, if Suicune is Raikou’s mate, then I assume that your role is not like a consort’s, correct?”

            Samara, for once, laughed, she then said, “My role in serving Lord Raikou is not intimate, nor has the role of any of my ancestors been that way. I was, actually, chosen because I never showed interest in having a male mate and, therefore, children. Of course, my service to my lord does not, explicitly, prevent me from taking a romantic partner…. I just have not found her, yet.”

            As Sven tried to wrap his head around what Samara had implied, Amber opened the door and the squad walked into the building. Sven saw a large room, on the first floor, which was filled with all kinds of supplies. Food, maintenance supplies, catapult and ballista ammunition, inhibitors, restorative seeds and berries, items designed to be actively held, the occasional TM, and a small number of evolution-inducing items were piled up around the room. Upon closer examination, the piles seemed to be more orderly than only a single glance would have shown.

            The only other Pokémon in the room was a single, female, Buizel, who was examining a stock of candles on the other side of the room. Upon hearing the door open, she turned around and was revealed to have been holding a clipboard. She then said, “Samara, I see that your squad is back safely. Who is that Froakie, I have heard that Joel has been assigned to lead a new squad, is that his replacement?”

            Amber mentioned, as the Buizel walked up to them, “Daphne, this is Sven, he has just agreed to join us. We are here to find him a room.”

            Sven’s attention had become focused on Daphne, he then snapped back into reality and said, “Hello, miss Daphne. I assume that you must be a quartermaster here. Yes, as Amber said, I would like to be given a room to stay in for the duration of my time here.”

            Maurice then mentioned, “Daphne, just so you know, this guy is, apparently, a rogue Sinless. So, put him somewhere where he will do the least damage if he betrays us.”

            Daphne looked over at Samara and Amber and then at Maurice and, finally, at Sven. She then sighed and threw up her hands. She exclaimed, “Are they just letting anyone into the resistance now? Are we that desperate? I do not see how Entei could have approved this?”

            Sven looked frustrated, and then responded, “We have barely met, and yet you judge me! Please, you have to understand that I would have left this island, and this region, if not for the blockade. I want to escape the Protectorate, not help them!”

            Daphne then glared at Sven and shot back, “I know all about the ‘Sinless,’ you are all soulless creatures that only spread corruption in the, supposed, name of righteousness. My family might have fallen for the Protectorate’s lies, but I will not.”

            Amber and Samara were now glaring at Maurice, who seemed to feel very awkward about the debate that he had, unintentionally, started. Samara, then said, “Daphne, we are here to get Sven a room. Please help us to do that, or get back to your work and we will find a room for him ourselves.”       

            Daphne then replied, “I am sorry, Samara, I cannot be a part of letting a ‘Sinless’ into the resistance. Our being outnumbered cannot lead to use taking a risk like this!”

            Amber then said, “Well, we will go upstairs, then. Goodbye, Daphne.”

            Sven, as his squad was heading to the stairs, said, “Miss Daphne, I really do not want to cause you any alarm. Please understand that I have no intention of betraying you or your allies. I hope that you will come around to the idea of my being here soon enough. Good day to you.”

            Daphne seemed to ignore Sven’s last series of statements. Then, Sven sighed deeply and followed his unit up the stairs.

            Maurice, as they were climbing, said, “Everyone, I am sorry about what I said. I did not know that Daphne would react so negatively to Sven being around. I was only thinking of our security.”

            Amber then replied, “I know, Maurice. But, we need to not antagonize Sven while he is with us. He seems to have been through enough, already. He has to live in fear of the Protectorate reprogramming him if they catch him. They cannot do that to Pokémon who are not among the Sinless, as far as I know.”

            Sven smiled at Amber as she continued, “As you two know, I was a small-time thief in my hometown, in the past. As an orphan, I did what I had to do to survive. If Joel had seen it fit to turn me in to the local authorities, before the Protectorate came, I would have been jailed. Of course, the Protectorate’s harsh treatment of outlaws is a part of what convinced me to join this outfit, along with him. I think that second chances are important and the Protectorate does not seem to believe in those!”

            Maurice then mentioned, “Well, life is weird like that. Amber, you got lucky that Joel never turned you in and that you are too stealthy to have been caught. As for me, I was deeply upset when I was deemed to inexperienced too go fight with Lord Ho-oh’s army. However, since they have disappeared, I feel a sort of undeserved luck. If I had been with them, then maybe I would not be able to help the resistance today.”

            Samara nodded and pointed out, “If I had been born heterosexual, than maybe I would never have been chosen for the honor of serving Lord Raikou directly.”

            Sven then added, “If I had not been ‘defective,’ I could never have seen how hypocritical the Protectorate truly is. I would have been a servant of theirs, with no free choice in the matter, from the start. I honestly hope that not too many others here end up treating me the way that Daphne treated me. She seemed so lovely and nice, until my being a clone was brought up.”

            Amber smiled at Sven and asked, “Lovely? I thought that all Sinless were incapable of forming any kind of biological attraction. They are all ‘married to their work’ by their nature. I guess you really are a defective, in their eyes.”

            Sven, as the team disembarked on an upper floor of the tower, responded, “Amber, everyone, if being able to feel attracted to someone is a defect, than I am proud to be defective!”

            As they walked out into a circular space, with a conical ceiling, Samara said, “I do agree with you, Sven. However, if you want to find love while here, than I would advise you to find someone who does not hate your very existence. I think that if you try to woo Daphne, she will just be more disgusted with you.”

            Maurice then added, “Samara is right, about all that she said. Anyway, we are in the tower’s ‘attic’ now. This tower faces the west, where the Protectorate has not been able to get a major foothold, yet. It’s guard posts are on the floor below this one. This may be a decent place to house you.”

            Amber then said, “All of the other Recon squad members have their quarters two and three floors down from here. Samara has her own room and so do I. Joel and Maurice are roommates, on the same floor as Samara and I. I assume that Miles and Chloe will move in close to us very soon.”

            Sven then nodded and responded, “Thank you all for the help. I will want to clean this room up, and get a bed in here. I own literally nothing. Sinless, normally, do not own private property.”

            Samara nodded and said, “The three of us will be just downstairs, two floors down from here, Sven. Hopefully, you will acquire some possessions, in due time.”

            Maurice then added, “I will go see if I can requisition a bed from Daphne, or someone else. If I ask her, I will make sure that she has not ‘booby trapped’ it, before delivering it to you.

            Amber then nodded, and smiled at Maurice, as the three of Sven’s squad-mates were leaving, she told Sven, “We will come and get you when it is time for dinner. You will get used to living here soon, hopefully.”

            Sven called down the stairs, as his allies left, “Thank you all, for everything. I will begin work on cleaning this old place up.”

            As Sven turned around to begin cleaning away the old straw and other debris that cluttered around the room, he thought, “At least this is not a prison cell. More importantly, I have finally made some friends. I just need some of them to trust me more. As for Daphne, I wonder what I can possibly say to make her understand that I am not a threat to her?”

            Sven then got to work on un-cluttering the room. He had made good progress by the time that Maurice dragged a small bed up into the attic. Daphne had, apparently, only allowed him to have it, because it was part of her duty as the Recon Squads’ Quartermaster.

            When evening fell, that night, Amber came up to take Sven downstairs to dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I just wanted to let you all know that I have been making some progress, even thought there is still far to go, on my "super-prequel" to this series. I hope that that story will be ready to begin posting before this story is fully posted. It will, ideally, begin posting right after this story is finished. Unlike my other stories, the "super-prequel" will not necessary require having read previous ROC stories in order to make sense. The "super-prequel," which I do have a working title for, will almost certainly be the final "original" installment in this series. Anyway, thank you all for reading, again.


	5. A New Assignment

That evening, Sven attended his first dinner as a member of Recon Squad #1. He sat with his comrades, Amber, Maurice and Samara. Nearby them was Joel as well as his new recruits, Miles and Chloe. Daphne sat with the two recon squads for dinner. She said nothing that evening, her only actions were to occasionally send a glare toward Sven.

            During the dinner, Sven became aware that Joel had, as stated before, been Amber’s only friend during her time as a street urchin and thief. Joel seemed to have acted as Amber’s conscience, urging her to only steal what she needed to survive and making sure that she had some food when she could not risk trying to steal any. Amber and Joel were both upset at no longer being able to work together in the same squad. However, Joel was still proud of himself, because the higher-ups had promoted him to the position of leader of a new Recon Squad.  

            After dinner, Joel led his squad up to their new quarters. Miles had taken to carrying Chloe around, to offset her slow hopping about on land. Chloe had promised her squad-mates that later, when she evolved into Octillery, she would be able to move, on her own power, more easily. As Samara and Maurice were heading up to their quarters, Sven told Amber, “I feel that I must speak with Daphne, I do not want her to continue to despise me!”

            Amber sighed and then replied, “Not everyone here is going to be as non-judgmental as I have ended up being. You should be happy that you have us now. If you talk to her, than she may end up hating you more.”

            Sven sighed and then told Amber, “You are, honestly, a very good friend. It seems almost like your personality clashes with your skill set as an infiltrator. However, despite your advice, I need to try and settle this quickly. Go upstairs and get some rest. Samara and Joel mentioned us having our first mission briefing tomorrow.”  

            Amber sighed, threw up her hands and then nodded. She walked up the stairs and then, before leaving Sven’s sight, she told him, “Good luck with Daphne. You will need more than just that, however.”

            Sven nodded at Amber and then he walked downstairs from the Recon Squad’s mess hall to the depot where Daphne worked. When Sven arrived, he hid behind a pile of TM machines while Daphne counted the number of Oran Berries in some nearby crates. It was not long until Daphne checked off something on her clipboard and then said, aloud, “I think that is enough work for one day. Everything is accounted for here. Off to bed with me.”

            As Daphne was walking toward where Sven was, he decided to wait until she was past him to confront her. She, thankfully, did not check behind the TM pile, which Sven carefully hid behind. As she was heading for the stairs, Sven slowly emerged from his hiding spot and then said, “Hello Daphne, we need to talk.”

            Daphne whirled around and then glared at Sven. She asked, “Have you come here to dispose of me. Have you realized that I am the only one here who seems to be onto you? You are a spy, aren’t you! Your being ‘rogue,’ or ‘defective,’ is just your cover!”

            Sven sighed and then said, “The Protectorate did not even know about my ‘defects’ until I betrayed them, unsuccessfully. The thief I tried to save from being executed. I still think about him now and then, and I still wish I could have been successful. Daphne, I do not know much about your personal history with the Protectorate. However, I want you to know that I am fighting them because they both pose the greatest threat to my chances of living a ‘normal’ life, and because I despise their hypocrisy. If I were a spy for the Protectorate, then I would not have even admitted to being a Sinless. The Protectorate would not fake my imprisonment and then take the chance that the resistance would let me join them. Besides, they normally find espionage to be below them. They see it as immoral and a mark of imperfection on whatever force uses it.”

            Daphne then said to Sven, “If you are one of their creations, you will always have the potential to be ‘reprogrammed’ by them, as long as both they and you exist. If you are being honest with me, then you will want the Protectorate to be, utterly, destroyed. You will want to see whatever the source of the ‘Sinless’ is eliminated and the technology that they use to condition the clones rendered unusable by anyone.”

            Sven simply nodded and then told Daphne, “I understand, as long as they still have the technology to reprogram me, than I am not fully safe. They could always just kill me, but that would deny them another loyal servant. That is why I am willing to fight them. I want to be able to stay myself, I do not to lose what makes me ‘defective,’ in their eyes.”         

            Daphne then replied, “You are something unlike me, or any of us! Even if you are not a spy, than you are a mistake. That is all you will ever be, an accident.”

            Sven finally began to get angry with Daphne, he then, his voice filled with conviction, said, “I may be a mistake, but I was their mistake. If I was an accident, than I was a ‘happy accident,’ every day, I am grateful that I am not a slave to our enemies. …I just wanted us to get along! You are much colder than I hoped you would be. I am sorry that I wasted both of our time.”

            Daphne, sighed and replied, “Everything the Protectorate touches, contrary to their beliefs, turns to ruin! I am sorry, ‘Sven,’ but even if you do not serve them anymore, your existence is still a perversion of nature.”

            Sven glared back at Daphne and then shouted back, “I never wanted to be born as a Sinless. I just want to live the same kind of life that anyone else would lead. Would you have me kill myself? Would that erase the ‘perversion’ that you think I create, just by living?”

            Daphne then staggered back, Sven’s last words seemed to have, finally, had a profound effect on her. She sat down and then just stared blankly for a few moments. She then replied, “No, I would not have you do that. My…my family said once told me that those who do evil should all cease to live, that they do not deserve to ‘become perfect.’ My father once suggested to some local criminals that were caught before the Protectorate arrived, that they should do penance for their actions by ending their own lives….”

            Sven carefully walked over to Daphne and the sat down next to her, he said, “Those who serve the Herald believe that evildoers are to be brutally punished and prevented from ‘becoming perfect.’ They fight evil… by creating more of it. That is why, with my free will, I chose to resist them.”

            Daphne stammered, “Sven, I am so sorry. My hatred of the Protectorate, for their hypocrisy and the further corruption of my family has made me say some truly awful things to you. I still do not know if I can trust you, yet. However, maybe we are kindred spirits. I do not want you to kill yourself…. Perhaps, your existence will turn out to be a good thing. You seem as determined to be free of the Protectorate as I am. Before I came here, I left my family. That was after the Protectorate took my hometown, not far to the west from where you were rescued. When my family became Aspiring and started working to help secure the Protectorate’s hold on the area, I joined a resistance cell. My family was able to find us, though and a Sinless raid wiped out the rest of the cell. I fled and was able to link up with the resistance forces based here. That was when I took my current job. Someone has to make sure that our efforts are well-supplied.”

            Sven then said, “Thank you for apologizing. I hope that, in due time, we can learn to trust each other. When I, hopefully, come back from my first mission, I would like to have a meal with you, just the two of us, sometime.”

            Daphne, looked puzzled and then said, “Ok, if that is how I can make it up to you, then fine. I was very cruel to you. I am legitimately sorry that I took my anger at the enemy out on you. You handled my verbal abuse very well. I think that we should both go to bed now.”

            Sven nodded and than responded, “Alright, I am glad that we ended this encounter in a positive way. I hope that we can get to know each other better in the future. That way, we can avoid any more conflict between us.”

            Daphne nodded and then finished, “Good night, Sven. Good luck on your first mission.”

            Sven saluted Daphne and then hopped back up the stairs as Daphne headed to her own room, in the basement of the building.

            Sven was able to, with his conflict with Daphne out of the way, rest peacefully that night. He enjoyed his new bed, which was far more comfortable than any of the beds he had slept in before either at the Sinless barracks or in the prison cells that he had previously occupied.

            The next day, the two recon squads and Daphne ate breakfast together. Everyone seemed surprised by the sudden lack of hostility coming toward Sven from Daphne. After breakfast, the two squads left the building and then marched over to the main complex. They walked up the stairs to the briefing room, where they encountered Raikou. With all seven Recon Squad members standing at the ready, Raikou began, “Alright, we have missions for both of your units. We will start with the, newly formed, Recon Squad #2. Joel, your squad is going to go and investigate one of the watchtowers that Protectorate units keep building to the north of the towns on the southern coast that they occupy. We have discovered that they have begun construction on a tower that is surprisingly close to our castle. It is only a day’s walk down the mountainside. You are to go and stop the construction and find out what you can about what the purpose of these towers is.”

            Joel then saluted Raikou and responded, “Of course. We will depart as soon as we pack the necessary items and get the right map. As for my former squad-mates, good luck on whatever mission they send you on.”

            After Joel and his subordinates departed, Raikou told Sven and his squad-mates, “As for you four, you all are going to a spot to the southeast of here. From there, you will meet up with a Raichu named Rachel; she commands a, very small, operating post nearby a desert-like plain. She has sent us a message, which states that the Protectorate has been moving convoys of carts, which contain unknown contents, from an unknown coastal location to their occupied towns. We think that they do not want these materials to be noticed being taken in to towns on barges. Therefore, they are using this convoy system to transport them. Your job will be a meet up with Rachel and her unit, and then help them to bring down an enemy convoy. Rachel’s scouts believe that they found one heading toward the town whose garrison we raided. If you leave today, you should be able to arrive in time to help them attack it before it reaches its destination. Before you head out, report in to Quartermaster Daphne. We have obtained something that should be a great help to you all.”

            Samara then replied, “My Lord, we will depart immediately and then set out to perform this task. We shall not fail you. Squad, fall back to our building. We shall speak with Daphne and see what she has prepared for us.”

            Sven, Amber and Maurice saluted Samara and Raikou and then, the squad returned to the building they were staying in. When they reached it, they found Daphne holding a large, silver and black, box by its handle. Daphne said to them, “I already gave our first one of these to Joel’s squad, before they left. These toolboxes were left over by members of the Pokémon Adventurers Guild, who had an office on this island in the recent past. The Guild teams on this island went off to fight the Protectorate on their ‘home turf’ and disappeared, along with Lord Ho-oh. When the Guild office on this island was overrun, the early resistance was able to recover these two toolboxes. Now, we have figured out how to use them. Your squad gets one toolbox, which can hold up to 20 items.

            Samara nodded and then told Sven, “You will manage the toolbox, Amber is our infiltrator, I am the leader and Maurice needs to be able to fly, as our air cover. That leaves you.”

            Sven nodded and responded, “Of course, ma’am.” He then took the toolbox from Daphne.

            Samara then told her squad, “We will stock up on items here. Then, we will set off and use our map to find Rachel and her cell. She will tell us what to do next.”

            All of Samara’s subordinates saluted her. Then, the squad packed up their toolbox, which Sven was holding on to, and set off for the fortress’s front gate.  


	6. The Journey to the Resistance Forward Outpost

When Recon Squad #1 arrived at the front gate to the ancient mountain fortress, they saw that Joel’s Recon Squad #2 had already left on their own mission.

            As Amber looked slightly disappointed, Samara ordered, “Alright, Recon Squad #1, move out! Amber, keep track of out position on the map, while I lead. Sven, keep our toolbox safe. Maurice, be ready to begin scouting from the air at a moment’s notice!”

            All of Samara’s subordinates nodded and the front gate was opened for the squad. The unit confidently marched out of the fortress and began their trek towards their objective.

            The squad had managed to march down the mountainside for the rest of the day. As evening fell, they gazed out over the dusty plains that the enemy convoy was to soon reach. Samara ordered, “Ok, squad, we are going to make a camp here. Myself, Amber and Maurice will take turns keeping watch, once night falls.”

            After the team found a camp spot near a small cluster of trees, Sven asked, “I assume that once you all learn to trust me more, you will let me have a watch? That way we will all get more sleep.”

            Amber nodded and replied, “Sorry Sven, but we have to make sure that you are on our side. Once we complete this mission, we should be able to let you keep watch on later missions.”

            Sven nodded and then, as Samara was directing the making of camp, mentioned, “You know, I am nervous about encountering Sinless in combat again. I hate to even risk being caught by them. However, I said that I would help your cause. You all can be sure that I will follow through with my commitment.”

            When the camp was fully made, the squad set down for a quick dinner. Amber mentioned, when the unit was, collectively, about half-way done with their eating, “I just hope that Joel and his new squad can pull their mission off. I have always been a good friend of his and his new squad is down one member from what is normal.”

            Maurice responded, “Well, to be honest, Amber, we are all taking risks as resistance fighters. This conflict will not be won without us taking risks. We need to be willing to suffer for our freedom.”

            As Amber and Samara nodded their agreement, Sven hesitantly spoke up to say, “As much as I certainly agree with Maurice…speaking of freedom… Raikou and Entei referred to missing Lord Ho-oh as their master. Would that mean that they were, at least in theory, his slaves?”         

            Samara looked shocked while Amber and Maurice just looked nervous after Sven finished his statement. Samara then collected herself and then replied, “Well, Sven, do you think that I am Raikou’s slave? Do you even believe that a slave could own another slave?”

            Sven looked shocked himself and then quickly shouted, “No! I never said that you were a slave. You clearly chose to serve Raikou as an attendant. It is a great honor in your culture. I just wonder about the service that Entei, Raikou and Suicune performed for Ho-oh. Were they completely unable to leave his control? Did he, even if it were never explicitly stated, own them?”

            Samara sighed and then explained, “Sven, in case you were not told this before, all three of them were brought back from the dead by Lord Ho-oh in a, one-time only, ritual. They served him in exchange for more powerful forms and, potentially, eternal life. Of course, if he still lives, than they will return to serving him, once he is found.”

            Sven then retorted, “What if they were brought back from death without prior consent and then told that they had to serve Ho-oh in their new lives? What if they really had no choice in the matter?”   

            Samara, as Amber and Maurice continued to watch, shot back, “Well, my Lord has never told me that he disliked serving Ho-oh. Also, now that Ho-oh has disappeared, they could leave. Instead, they stayed in his fortress to defend his home and fight those who might have defeated their lord!”

            Sven sighed and then said, “I am sorry that I brought it up. However, if Ho-oh is dead now and the Protectorate is still stopped, than what will his three servants do afterwards?”

            Samara thought Sven’s idea over for a moment and then replied, “We will have to see about that. Anyway, we should all finish eating and then get ourselves to bed. No more infighting, including infighting started by me, for now.”

            The relieved squad all nodded and then, they all finished their meals.

            That night, Sven and his squad were able to rest the night, at their campsite. The next morning, the squad was woken up by Samara, who had decided to take the final watch. Samara declared, “Alright, everyone, today we should be able to reach Rachel’s outpost. We will begin moving now. There is no time to waste.”

            As the squad began moving out, they all heard howling in the vicinity. Amber slowly stammered, “I do not like the sound of those howls.”

            Samara quickly shouted, “We should get moving and try to reach the outpost as soon as we can.”

            As the squad began to move as quickly as they could towards the spot on their map where the outpost was supposed to be, Sven asked his allies, “Everyone, who are these Pokémon? Do you think that they are chasing us?”

            Maurice, after he took flight to keep watch from the air, looked back into the nearby forest and then responded, “It looks to me to be a pack of Poochyena led by a single Mightyena. Their howls can be heard from a good distance. They are all fast, but we have a decent head start on them.”

            Samara then ordered, “Sven, get on my back, again. You are the slowest one among us, since Maurice can fly. We do not want to leave you behind!”

            Sven did as he was told, quickly hopping onto Samara’s back, when she briefly stopped. Then, Samara rushed ahead as Amber ran as fast as she could behind her three squad-mates.

            About an hour passed, with Maurice giving the occasional update on the pack’s progression. Samara was getting worried, as the Recon Squad was being slowly gained on. Amber was the one in the most danger of being caught up to by the pursuing wild Pokémon. Samara was able to maintain her distance from them with ease. Maurice kept in the air, and was therefore in the least danger from the hostile pack.

            After another hour, Maurice shouted to Samara, “I see that two of the Poochyena are getting closer. They are possibly the pack’s forward scouting unit. They are not far from reaching Amber now!”

            Amber nodded as she did her best to continue running from the incoming Poochyena.

            Samara then ordered, “We cannot let them catch up to us. However, we will need to pick off these two forward runners. Recon squad #1, engage the forward two enemies and then continue advancing toward the resistance outpost!”

            Amber did an about face and then, as a Poochyena charged at her, used an Absorb on him. She then evaded her foe’s Tackle attack.

            Maurice backed Amber up with a successful Rock Throw and then Samara saw the other Poochyena use Howl to prepare for combat. Samara rushed her and then used Spark to weaken that foe. Sven then dismounted Samara while using a Quick Attack to further weaken the same hostile Poochyena, who Samara had attacked.           

            After Amber withstood a Tackle, she promptly used Absorb to, bring her enemy nearer to unconsciousness and heal some of her own injuries. Maurice then blasted the Poochyena down with a second Rock Throw from the air.

            The, now enhanced, female Poochyena tackled Sven. After that, he retaliated with a spray of Bubbles. His foe collapsed from the blast. With those two foes vanquished, Samara said, “Now, back to running. We can only hope that the pack stops, or at least sends a few of its members, to tend to their downed allies!”

            Sven hopped back onto Samara’s back as they got back to running toward the outpost. They began to see a small rock formation in the distance. As they advanced toward it, Maurice shouted, “That should be the cave where Rachel is located! I see that three of the Poochyena have stopped to guard their fallen. That leaves the Mightyena alpha and only two of her followers.”

            Samara then replied, “We will wait until the pack members still pursuing us are far away from their allies. Then, we will stand and fight them!”

            Sven then quickly asked Samara, “Why don’t we try to reach the outpost first? We could get our fellow resistance Pokémon to help us!”

            Samara replied, “We might not be able to make it there before they catch us. Also, I do not want to waste any of Rachel’s very limited resources before the battle to come.”

            Sven nodded as the squad continued to run towards the cave.

            Once Maurice reported that it had become very difficult to see the three Poochyena who were guarding the fallen, Samara ordered Sven off of her. The Mightyena and her two attendants approached the squad and then stopped, abruptly.

            The Mightyena alpha then observed the Recon Squad and said, “How brave of you to stand and fight us. Your tactic of waiting until my other followers were all dropped or out of range is commendably wise. However, you will still become, as your kind say, dinner for us.”

            Samara rapidly shouted back, “Or, you will all faint and go hungry for now!” She then ran at all three enemies while her squad watched. Then, once she was right in front of the Mightyena, she used her, TM granted, Thunderbolt move. A bolt of lightning crashed into each of the three wild hunters.

            Sven then took the initiative and unleashed a, well-aimed, cone of Bubbles that managed to finish off a Poochyena and further wound the Mightyena.

            Amber then charged the remaining Poochyena and struck him with Pound. As he teetered, Maurice charged in and struck him with a Wing Attack, fainting him.

            The Mightyena was now alone, she shouted, “Ok, your little group is, actually, quite effective. I see how my forward scouting unit lost to you. However, I will not give in so easily!”

            The Mightyena then bared her fangs and Bit into Samara, hard. Samara flinched from the pain caused by the attack.

            Amber, seeing her leader’s injury, shouted, “Ok, Samara is out of the way, for now. We need to focus our best attacks on the enemy alpha!”

            Sven fired off another cone of Bubbles and then, Maurice flew back into the air and then flung another Rock into the enemy. Finally, Amber used another Absorb to drain some of the life out of the hostile Mightyena.

            The Mightyena then began to flee, shouting back at the squad, “You all will have not seen the last of me!”

            Samara then recovered from her flinch and charged the retreating Mightyena, shouting to her squad, “By no means let her escape to her other followers! Bring her Down!”

            As Amber and Sven followed Samara as best as they could, Maurice swooped in and closed in on the escaping Mightyena.

            Samara then managed to reach the Mightyena and Tackled her to the ground. The Mightyena was almost unconscious and also now pinned by Samara. Samara then ordered, “Maurice, knock her out.”

            Maurice, as Samara took a Sand Attack to the eyes from the Mightyena, flew in and delivered a final Rock Throw to the alpha’s head. The alpha Mightyena fainted and then Sven and Amber reached the spot where Samara and Maurice were located.

            After Maurice landed, Samara told her squad, “We are going to drag this Mightyena to the forward outpost. We will defer to Rachel’s decision as to what to do with her. Without her leadership, I can only hope that her pack will be weakened or even disband.”

            Samara’s three subordinates all nodded. Then, they helped sling the unconscious Mightyena over Samara’s back. The recon squad of four managed to reach the entrance to the cave outpost when it was around noon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I just wanted to mention that progress on the "Super-Prequel" story, which I will refer to from now on by its project name, "Ruination," is advancing quickly. I have already completed the first ten chapters of that story as rough drafts. I still cannot estimate the total length of that story yet. Anyways, thank you all for reading and, where appropriate, leaving Kudos.


	7. The Convoy Ambush

Sven and his allies in Recon Squad #1 managed to reach the nearby cave outpost, along with the knocked-out Mightyena Alpha, whom they had slung over Samara’s back. When they reached the cave’s entrance, they saw that no one was currently there.

            Amber suggested, “If there were Pokémon actively guarding this cave’s entrance, then someone, possibly Protectorate forces, would be likely to come here and investigate. Presumably, Rachel does not want that to happen.”

            Maurice then added, “In that case, we should head deeper into the cave and see who we find. Hopefully, we can identify ourselves to our allies. We do not want to be mistaken for wild, or Protectorate, Pokémon.”

            Samara nodded and then ordered her squad into the cave. Samara, as the unit’s leader, went first, then Maurice, then Sven and then, finally, Amber. Amber was to watch the squad’s collective backs, as they advanced into the cave.

            Once the squad was inside of the cave, they quickly realized that it branched out into four more passages, all going in different directions.

            As the squad was looking around, Samara mentioned, “It looks like there are torches lighting the way deeper into three of the four passages. We should, therefore, go down one of those three, but which?”

            As the four Pokémon were doing their best to figure out which way to go, Sven walked over closer to the three passageways where torches had been lit deeper inside. He then started to carefully examine the ground as he said, “There could be some tracks leading deeper inside the cave network. We should probably follow the path with the most recent-looking tracks on its floor.”

            Amber smiled at Sven, realizing that he had had a useful idea. Samara then ordered, “Sven has a point, everyone, search for tracks. I will keep watch. I am not as helpful, with our prisoner stretched over my back, as I would normally be.”

            It did not take the squad long to discover that the path leading somewhat to their right had some, recently made, tracks going down it. The squad decided to follow the tracks and it was not long until they reached a large chamber with torches ringing it. When they arrived, a female Raichu emerged from a nearby tunnel.  

            Samara, as her subordinates were unloading the Mightyena from her back, said, “You are Rachel, I presume?”

            The Raichu was quick to respond, “Yes, I assume that you are Samara, the attendant of Raikou. You and your unit are good trackers, fitting for a Recon Squad. We would have come and found you if you had dawdled in the caves too much, or if you had gone the wrong way. This network of caves is actually somewhat vast. We have not bothered to settle all of it, because we could be forced to fall back to the mountain castle any day.”

            Some other resistance Pokémon came out from nearby passages and a pair of Cubone began to drag the unconscious Mightyena away. Samara then told Rachel, “We were attacked by her pack on the way here. Having her as a prisoner should deter further attacks, I hope.”

            Rachel told her followers to use one of their few pairs of inhibitors on the Mightyena and then find a place to hold her. Then, she told the Recon Squad’s Pokémon, “We will get you four a place to rest. Tomorrow, we will brief you on our plan.”

            The four members of Recon Squad #1 all agreed and then were all led to a portion of the caves with a few beds. They all picked a bed, with Samara picking the biggest one. Samara and Maurice were both quick to get to sleep after eating a dinner, which had been provided by their hosts. Amber and Sven were both still up and sitting on their beds.

            Sven told Amber, “Both of us should be getting some rest soon. We may need to be up early tomorrow in order to march to the road where the ambush is to take place. You should know, though, that I did talk with Daphne earlier. We had quite a heated exchange. However, when I suggested that she thought that it would be for the better if I did myself in, she calmed down and even began to apologize.”

            Amber looked a bit shocked and then replied, “Well, Daphne hates the Protectorate more than most of us do. Her closest family members are apparently real ‘True Believers’ in their cause. I am surprised, frankly, that you could even calm her down at all.”

            Sven then added, “Well, I am going to have a meal together with her, once we return from this mission. I want to, at the minimum, convince her to quit hating me.”

            Amber looked surprised again, and then said, “Well, Sven, good luck with that. Now, we should get some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

            Sven agreed and then the two squad-mates were able to nod off to sleep soon after.

            The next morning, Recon Squad #1 was with Rachel and six other Pokémon in the cave complex’s map room. The map, which was on a wooden table at the center, depicted the immediate area. Rachel used a long pointer to point to spot on the map where the main road through the sandy plains intersected with a series of rock formations. She then explained, “A couple of my Pokémon are going to, once the enemy convoy reaches a certain point that we have pre-determined in the rock ‘garden,’ push down some boulders to block the convoy’s path. When they either try to punch through the rocks, or find another way around, the rest of us, who will have been taking cover on both sides of the road will attack the Sinless guarding the convoy. Then, we will destroy and/or steal the contents of its carts.”

            Samara then told her squad, “Rachel has told me that the carts are being pulled by Sinless Rhyhorn. Amber and Sven should do well against them. Maurice and I will focus on the other guards, along with Rachel’s band.”

            Rachel then pointed out, “The convoy’s rear-most cart should contain the commander of its guards. We will need to deal with them at some point as we attack the convoy. Now, we should all be moving out, so that we get to the rock formations before the Protectorate convoy does.”

            The eleven Pokémon marched out of the cave and then followed the road, as the sun rose above them, to the rock “garden.” Once there, two of Rachel’s strongest followers set up a position atop a massive boulder from which to push the smaller rocks, which they had already placed there, into the way of the convoy.

            It was not long after the sun had risen, when Rachel gave the order to hide and keep quiet. The convoy had been sighted and it was on its way down the road.

            Sven and his squad took cover behind a large rock and fully hid themselves behind it. They saw Rachel, and one of her followers, not too far away. They were also hiding behind a large rock formation. Two of Rachel’s other followers then prepared to push the smaller boulders down onto the roadway. The last three other Resistance Pokémon were waiting on the other side of the road. They were hiding behind another rock formation.

            After a few minutes had past, the ambush force heard the approaching convoy getting much closer. Then Rachel popped her head above the rock she had been hiding behind and shouted, “NOW! Block their path!”

            The two Pokémon on top of the huge boulder nearby then pushed the series of five smaller boulders off of their position, the boulders fell onto the road.

            Sven and his squad-mates peered out from their hiding place and saw that there were four carts in total. A pair of Rhyhorn, who were all wearing the light green sashes that marked them as being Sinless, drew each cart. The first three carts were very basic four-wheeled platforms. Each had a large green crate, bearing the usual Protectorate symbol, on it. The last cart was a wagon with a green cover over it. Three Sinless Tepig were flanking the four carts on both sides. In all, there were Eight Rhyhorn and Six Tepig in the convoy.

            Rachel shouted, “Samara, Maurice follow me to attack the last cart! …For the resistance!”

            The eleven Pokémon ambush force began their assault on the convoy. The Rhyhorn began trying to force themselves free of their yokes so that they could fight more effectively. Two Tepig tried to intercept Rachel, Samara and Maurice. Then, Amber and Sven charged the other one as Rachel’s six followers began focusing on the three Tepig to the other side of the stopped convoy.

            Sven immediately fired off a cone of Bubbles at multiple of his foes. The Tepig staggered back from his injuries as the blast also severely injured two of the Rhyhorn. Then, the Tepig retaliated and shot Amber with an Ember move.

            As Amber staggered back, Sven told her, “Go attack the Rhyhorn, I will bring this one down!”  

            Amber nodded and rushed a Rhyhorn and dropped him with an Absorb, healing herself in the process.

            Sven then glared at his foe and said, “I will never be like you again!” As the Tepig looked moderately confused, Sven fired off a second cone of Bubbles. The second attack finished off both the Tepig and the Rhyhorn next to the one Amber had downed.

            Sven regrouped with Amber and saw how their allies were doing well against the remaining Tepig guards. Then, amber shouted, “Incoming!”

            Another pair of Rhyhorn had freed themselves from their cart and were both charging at the duo. Both Sven and Amber took a Horn Attack from a Sinless Rhyhorn.

            After the pair staggered back slightly, Sven ran back and then aimed and fired off a third Bubble attack, which severely weakened both enemies. Then, Amber used another Absorb, which managed to down one of the Rhyhorn and also heal a portion of her new wounds.

            The remaining foe, being a Sinless, was not about to retreat, he charged at Sven. Sven barely dodged a Stomp attack, which his foe tried to bring down on him.

            Then, Amber shouted to Sven, “I have got this one!” She used yet another Absorb attack to finish off the foe.

            Sven and Amber then saw that their allies had dropped all of the five other Tepig. Rachel’s followers were, as a group, engaging the four remaining Rhyhorn. As for Rachel herself, she was fighting a Heracross, who was wearing a dark green sash, along with Samara and Maurice.    

            Sven and Amber both nodded to each other and then they both ran towards the larger battle. Sven unleashed another Bubble cone, which dropped two of the already injured Rhyhorn. The last two fell to the combined forces of six resistance fighters and Amber soon after that.

            Then, they saw that the Heracross had held out a perfectly round stone and modified his form. The six resistance fighters, Amber and Sven rushed to help their allies. As he was being advanced on, the Heracross was able to shoot Maurice down with a Bullet Seed barrage. Then, Samara hit him with a Spark and Rachel used a Thundershock to finish him off.

            As Rachel told her troops to begin searching the crates, Samara ordered Amber to feed Maurice one of their Reviver Seeds. After Maurice was brought back up, Sven went over to help examine the contents of the, recently pried open, crates.

            The resistance fighters all looked quite puzzled. They beckoned Rachel over to look at what they had found. Once all of the crates were opened and the ambush force was able to look the contents over fully, Rachel declared, “It seems that the crates were mostly full of bits and pieces of what appears to be human technology. It looks like there are no complete devices here, though. All that we have are what seems like the components for… something?”  

            Samara then suggested, “Why doesn’t my squad take some samples back to the mountain castle. We should destroy the rest and then eliminate the enemies we have defeated here. This will, ideally, make the Protectorate uneasy about sending more convoys through this area.”  

            Rachel nodded and then declared, “We will gather some samples.  Then, we will destroy the wagons and the other parts, as well as the guards.”

            What Rachel had said was done soon after that. Then, the resistance members left the area, just in case more Protectorate units were inbound.

            Upon returning to the cave network, Recon Squad #1 was given seven technology samples. They placed those in their toolbox. Then, the squad rested the night in the cave network and prepared to leave for their journey back to the mountain castle, the next morning. As they were about to leave the cave complex, Rachel told the squad, “You all are good fighters. You should be able to make it back to our headquarters soon. I may, Arceus willing, see you there soon.”

            Sven asked Rachel, “Why is that?”

            Rachel replied, “The Protectorate will be scrambling to locate our position after they realize what happened. Their own recon units will find the ruins of their convoy. If they find us, we will take out as many of them as we can and then begin to fall back to the mountain fortress. Anyways, good luck on your way back to HQ.”

            Samara thanked Rachel and then, Recon Squad #1 began the trek back to base.     

            Once they were in the foothills of the central mountain, again, Maurice told Sven, “You did well on our first mission as a Squad. Just in case you are wondering, it was probably for the best that we did not tell Rachel what you were. I have learned my lesson about that kind of thing.”

            Sven nodded as his squad continued their trek up to the mountain fortress. They would, after defeating a few groups of wild Pokémon on the way back, near its gates the next day at midday.


	8. Back in Headquarters

Recon Squad #1 was on approach to one of the gates of the mountain fortress, which the Western Resistance called its home base. With their toolbox filled with stolen bits and pieces of Protectorate technology, they walked up to the west-facing gate of the massive structure. The gate creaked open as the squad was quickly recognized. Samara then led her squad inside the fortress.

            Once they were inside, Samara gave out a couple of orders, saying, “Ok, Amber and Maurice, you two report in to Lord Raikou. Tell him of our recent success. Sven, the two of us are going to deliver the technology that we stole to Daphne. She will find a place to put it, for now.”

            Sven nodded enthusiastically as Amber and Maurice began walking over to the central compound of the castle.

            Sven, who was still holding the squad’s toolbox, followed Samara over to the building, where the Recon Squads were based. They then entered the room where a large amount of the resistance’s supplies were stored.

            Daphne was in the storage room; she was looking over some crates full of berries while holding her normal clipboard. After she turned around, she saw Samara and Sven. Daphne then asked, “Well, you two are back… I would hope that Maurice and Amber also made it back here. Recon Squad #2 made it back to HQ late last evening. They seemed to have taken no casualties.”

            Samara then replied, “Amber and Maurice both survived the mission. They are reporting back to our leaders as we speak. Anyway, it is good to hear that Joel’s unit got back here without any casualties. We will have to see how their mission went later on.”

            Sven then stepped forward and opened the toolbox. As he began to take out the technological parts, which they had stolen from the Protectorate convoy, he said, “Daphne, we managed to obtain these various items from the enemy convoy, which we destroyed. Rachel, the leader of the cavernous outpost, asked us to bring these back to HQ for her.”

            Daphne walked over closer to Sven and Samara and then replied, “Ok, I will see if I can find a place for these. Anyway, how was it, fighting against your own kind?”

            Sven grimaced a bit and then told Daphne, as Samara nervously watched, “Well, I never want to be back in the Protectorate’s custody. I did not have any trouble fighting against their loyal soldiers. Also, I believe that we were to have a meal together once I returned. I would hope that you are able to control yourself more effectively then. Otherwise, it will either be a very long or a very short meal.”

            Daphne replied, “Well, a deal is a deal. We will see if we can eat dinner tomorrow night. Does that work for you? Also, I am sorry about what I just said… force of habit and all that.”

            Sven smiled and then declared, “Tomorrow night it is then. Maybe we can bring some food up to my room in the loft?”

            Daphne nodded, by that point, Sven had removed all of the stolen Protectorate technology from the toolbox. Samara then said, “Daphne, see what you can do with that stuff. Put it somewhere safe for now. I am heading upstairs to see if I can find Joel. Then, I am definitely going to get some rest.”

            As Samara headed upstairs, Sven told Daphne, “Let me know if you ever need a little help down here. For now, I am going to go rest myself. See you at dinner.”

            Daphne replied, “You really want me to not hate you, don’t you?”

            Sven smiled at her, nodded and then hopped up the stairs.

            That evening, Sven attended dinner with his squad mates. He, along with the rest of Recon Squad #1, learned that Joel, Miles and Chloe had been able to take out the enemy watchtower that had been under construction in the mountain’s foothills. Amber informed Joel, and his squad, of how Recon Squad #1 had defeated the wild pack that had been chasing them down and how they captured the pack’s alpha. She then described the raid on the convoy and how they had been able to trap and eliminate the Protectorate forces guarding it.

            That evening, Sven fell asleep happy, with the thought that he was fitting in with his resistance comrades in his mind.

            The next day, Recon Squad #1 finished their report to Raikou regarding the success of their previous mission. The unit was then, after each receiving their pay for the mission of 2,000 poké each, dismissed until such a time when their services would be needed again. Miles, along with Chloe, was apparently interesting in trying to set up some sort of business in the fortress. He was mainly hoping to buy and sell non-essential goods to those residing in the Western Resistance’s headquarters. Joel and Amber primarily spent time together, while Maurice spent his time on the castle’s battlements, often keeping watch for any approaching hostile Pokémon. As for Samara, she returned to her duties as the Attendant of Raikou when she was not actively leading her recon squad.

            Sven, after expressing interest in using his, newly acquired, money to buy some furniture from Miles and Chloe once they got a business running, returned to the storage room where Daphne could usually be found.

            When Sven entered the room, Daphne was looking over some bags of Seeds. When she detected Sven entering, she said, “Don’t worry, we are still having dinner tonight.”

            Sven was quick to reply, “I also came here to see if I could help you with anything. You seem to work quite hard. And… I have a question that I thought you could answer for me, seeing as though you are a quartermaster here.”

            Daphne, as she finished her inventory of the Seeds, replied, “Ok, what’s your question?”

            Sven then asked Daphne, “Even though this is a resistance movement, it seems that there is enough money to pay the squad members a decent amount for their work, at least for important assignments? Why is that? How much money can a resistance group have?”

            Daphne quickly answered, “If you are one of us now, then I should not be withholding that much information…. The Western Resistance has the resources that it has because it inherited lord Ho-oh’s fortress and therefore, his treasury. Over the centuries, the old lord of this castle had built up a significant amount of wealth. That wealth is now at the disposal of the Western Resistance. We have used that wealth, among other methods, to obtain the supplies that you see in this room. Normally, missions undertaken by recon or assault squads pay varying amounts. Usually our leaders base it off of the perceived importance of the mission.”

            Sven nodded and then responded, “Well, thank you for that. Anyways… is there anything I can do to help you here?”

            Daphne sighed a bit and then told Sven, “You can help me organize some new items, which have come in over the last around a week. These have been purchased, or looted by the resistance relatively recently, or even donated to us. I can try and explain my system of what goes where to you, as we go along.”

            Sven nodded enthusiastically and then, the two of them began to sort the new inventory items and place them in the correct locations, within the storage room.

            When Sven and Daphne were finished with their work, they headed upstairs to get ready for dinner. Once the members of recon squads 1 and 2 were there, Sven and Daphne got their plates and then walked upstairs to where Sven was staying.

            After the two of them sat down on the floor, Sven said, “I would really like to get some other furniture in here, at some point. I am hoping to buy some whenever Miles and Chloe get their business up and running.”

            Daphne nodded, as the two of them began to eat, she then asked, “So, Sven… we have established that you are a ‘Sinless,’ I will grant you the decent possibility of you being a rogue Sinless for the sake of my question. Anyway, my question is… what would you like to do with your life? If the entire Protectorate were to collapse, then, what would you go off and do with your existence?”

            Sven seemed to understand Daphne’s question, he thought it over for a moment and then responded, “I am still figuring that out, frankly. Since the Protectorate is still blockading this region, I have been forced into joining your Western Resistance in order to help fight them off. My greatest fear is not even being killed by them, which is certainly a possibility. I am deeply afraid, as I might have told you before, that they could recapture and then ‘reprogram’ me. I just want to help the resistance as much as I can. If we do defeat the Protectorate, then I will go from there.”

            Daphne, then added, “So, you just want to make sure that they cannot make you behave like all of the other ‘Sinless.’ While I was here, as your squad was out on your convoy ambush mission, Raikou informed me, that you were seen as a defect by the Protectorate’s leadership. If that is true, then maybe I can live with you being here.”

            Sven smiled at Daphne and then responded, “You did not need to put that many qualifiers on that statement. I can personally assure you that I am not like the others, apparently, the result of a unique defect in the cloning process that the Protectorate’s leaders use. I view my former leaders as complete hypocrites. Also, I frankly, want to bring them down because they deserve it, not only as a means to an end. The end being my freedom to live my life as I see fit.”

            Daphne then smiled warmly back over at Sven and then said, “Well, I guess that we really do see ‘eye to eye’ on some things. Maybe we can learn to get along… at some point.”

               Sven sighed and then said, “I think that you are more ready to drop your bias against me than you let on. However, I am willing to take what I can get from you. Thank you for keeping your word on our dinner arrangement.”

            Daphne simply gave a vague smile and nodded back at Sven. The two of them then finished up their meals and returned the plates, which they had brought upstairs, to the building’s dining room.

            Over the next week, both of the recon squads spent their time taking care of minor jobs in the vicinity of the mountain castle. They drove off wild Pokémon that strayed too close to the resistance’s headquarters, and they also took down a few Protectorate patrols that had gotten too close to the fortress. They also helped to escort various Pokémon, who were affiliated with the resistance, to and from the mountain fortress.

            One morning, both Recon Squads were called in to receive their new assignments. This time both Entei and Raikou were present in the briefing room. Entei began, “We have decided to send all seven of you on a joint mission. Both Recon Squad #1 and Recon Squad #2 will be setting off to help the evacuation of a medium sized town on the eastern coast of this island.”   

            Raikou then continued, “Despite the fact that the town has, repeatedly, claimed neutrality in the conflict between our faction and the Protectorate, they have lost great amounts of resources to the blockade the Protectorate has set up. Protectorate military barges now are directly blockading them. They are expecting an imminent invasion by sea, and possibly also by land, from the Protectorate. They have, therefore, asked us for help in helping their weaker civilians evacuate the town while their stronger Pokémon hold off the Sinless and the Aspiring for as long as they can.”

            Entei then finished, “Your orders are to go and link up with the town’s guard and then help protect the evacuees as they flee to the northwest. Some of you may be needed to help fight off the Protectorate’s assault, if they make enough of a dent in the local guard’s numbers fast enough. Your contact there will be a male Cloyster, who is the local captain of the guard. He will explain what all of you should do upon your arrival. You will all be given a map, with the coastal town marked on it. Once you all make sure that both of your toolboxes are properly stocked you will leave this fortress, immediately.”

            Samara and Joel both nodded, to show that they understood their orders. Then, after all seven Pokémon had saluted the two legendaries, in their own ways, they stocked up their toolboxes, with Daphne’s help, and left the fortress. They left before noon and quickly began to march towards their destination. They were traveling as one group, without much of a distinction between the two recon squads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers, I wanted to announce two things. For one, tomorrow, as of posting, is going to be this series' first "birthday." If I am correct, the first chapter of my first story on this website was posted on 3/4/2016. Two, work on project Ruination, the distant prequel to my main series, is nearing its conclusion. I will almost certainly complete my work on that story by the time this one is fully posted. Therefore, Ruination should begin posting right after this story is completed, at the latest. Thank you all for reading, once again.


	9. The Journey East

Recon squads #1 and #2 were making their way down the mountainside. They were just beginning their journey to the coastal town, whose evacuation they were to assist in. Joel and Samara had estimated that, based on their map, the trip would take them no more than three days of walking. That was, of course, assuming that they would arrive at their objective without any significant trouble.

            Once the mountainside began to flatten out a bit, Joel announced, “We should not be far from a small forest located near to the base of the central mountain. We will, most likely, find a place to camp for the night within the trees.”

            Samara then mentioned, “With as many of us as there are, we should not have much trouble with keeping watch. Anyway, Joel, I suggest that you continue to use the map and lead the way from the front, while I keep an eye out for any possible threats.”

            Amber, who had been carrying the toolbox for Joel’s team as he was holding the map, then spoke up to say, “I hope that the Protectorate’s forces have not gotten this far yet? We should not have to worry about encountering them here, right?”

            Joel then responded, “Well, Amber, except for the one that they put in your squad, we should probably not see any Sinless in this area.”

            Miles quickly added, “Now that Joel mentions it, has Recon Squad #1 had any trouble with #709? I overheard Amber telling Joel that he is going by the name Sven, now.”

            Chloe, who was being carried by Miles, then pointed out, “I am frankly still in disbelief that a Sinless, even a self-proclaimed Rogue Sinless, was allowed to become a resistance operative.”

            As Maurice began to look moderately worried, Sven spoke up, saying, “I guess that now I will have to, once again, defend myself. Samara, Amber and Maurice can all tell you that I have ‘pulled my weight’ in Recon Squad #1. I will have you all know, some of you again, that I despise and fear the Protectorate. I never want to be in their custody again. They are hypocrites who fail, spectacularly, to live up their own ideals of moral perfection. I would like to be as far away from them as possible. Since that is currently undoable, I am determined to fight them in any way that I can!”

            Sven’s last statement seemed to have, at least temporarily, shut Miles, Joel and Chloe up. Maurice then said, mainly to the members of Recon Squad #2, “Sven has, along with carrying our toolbox, been pretty effective in combat. He seems to have no desire to betray us. I doubted the legitimacy of his claims, at first. However, I now strongly doubt that his presence in the resistance is anything but a boon to us.”

            Amber then followed up by saying, “Maurice is correct, as far as I am concerned. Sven is a pretty good squad-mate. I was also extremely skeptical when I first met him. However, I now see that he is not a threat to us. He does his best to pull his weight”

            Samara then, calmly, finished up by saying, “Joel, you do not have to worry about Sven. He is my subordinate, and therefore, he is my responsibility. He has fought alongside us against both wild Pokémon and Sinless before. There should not be any issues with him possibly betraying us in the future, based on what I have seen.”

            Sven was smiling as big a smile as he ever had, he then said, “I honestly, really appreciate the support, guys. It seems like you all do care about me. I am happy to be in an organization where the common members can develop attachments to each other and mutual respect can flourish.”

            Joel then responded, “Well, since Amber and the others vouch for you, I think I can trust you. I must say, though, the way you just described the Western Resistance sounds like you were writing an advertisement for it.”

            Sven looked a bit awkward and then said nothing in response to Joel’s remarks.

            Miles then said, “Well, we should all probably be able to trust in each other, anyways. I just wanted to make sure that we did not have an enemy spy in our midst. I may have my own, personal, reasons for wanting to drive out the Protectorate, but I also do not want my allies to suffer needlessly.”

            Chloe nodded her whole body, in agreement with Miles, as the group continued to advance down the mountainside.

            That evening, the two recon squads made a, decently large, camp close to the middle of the forest. Only Miles, Joel, Amber and Maurice had to keep watch that night. The next day, the pair of squads continued on their way towards their destination.

            Once they had reached a relatively open stretch of plains, the two squads stopped to have a quick meal. As they were finishing up their eating, they started to hear loud grunts and other noises coming from all around them.

            Miles shouted, “I have heard those noises before…. I think we are dealing with a pride of wild Mankey!”     

            Miles was proven correct in short order as a number of the primate Pokémon appeared from both behind, and in, the scattered nearby trees. The group appeared to number around eight in total. They all began to rapidly advance on the Recon Squads. Samara shouted, “Sven, with Maurice, Amber, with me. Defensive formation!”

            Joel, since he was now a squad commander himself, then ordered, “I will fight them off as best as I can. Miles, hold up Chloe, so that she can use Psybeam on as many of them as she can. Attack any targets that get up close and personal with you two!”  

            Miles took Chloe and began to aim her at the oncoming enemies, he told her, “Just do your best to indicate which one you would like me to aim you at.”       

            Chloe gave Miles a target as Maurice and Sven squared off against a pair of Mankey. Samara and Amber were up against three of them, as was Recon Squad #2.

            Then, the approaching Mankey all began to charge, at full speed, into their foes.

            As a pair of Mankey rapidly approached Sven and Maurice, Maurice asked Sven, “Are you going to Bubble at them?”

            Sven nodded no and then declared, “I have got something better now!”

            Sven immediately unleashed a Water Pulse onto the duo of incoming Mankey. Both of them were, very briefly, staggered by the blast of super-high pressure water.

            Then, Maurice swooped in and struck one of the Mankey with a Pluck attack. He shouted to Sven, as that foe fainted, “I have a new move of my own!”  

            As Maurice landed, the Mankey nearby him struck him with a Low Kick. Maurice staggered back a bit, but was easily able to keep fighting.

            Sven, who had just watched Joel and Chloe down one of the Mankey with Dragon Breath and Psybeam respectively, charged at the Mankey, who has fighting Maurice and then Licked him.

            The Mankey withstood the blow and then evaded a second Pluck attacked from Maurice. He then tore into Sven with his Fury Swipes. Three swipes connected with Sven and he staggered back, badly wounded.

            Sven then gave his foe a nasty glare and stepped back. He then rapidly dropped the Mankey with a Quick Attack.

            Maurice then told Sven, “You do not look so good. However, we still need to assist the others.”

            Sven nodded in agreement, and the two of them surveyed the battlefield. They saw that Joel was fighting a Mankey by himself. Also, Miles and Chloe were engaging another one. Finally, Samara and Amber had managed to drop two of their foes and had teamed up on the final one.

            Maurice quickly took off and charged through the air at the Mankey that was fighting Joel. Maurice slammed into the Mankey while using a Pluck move. Then, Joel stepped back and dispatched the target with a Pluck move.

            Sven rushed in to help Samara and Amber; he used a Lick on the Mankey that they were fighting. Samara then used Spark and Amber used Pound and the Mankey fell to the ground, unconscious.

            As for the last Mankey, Miles, who was still holding Chloe, used a Lick of his own on the enemy. Then he held Chloe out and she Psybeamed the Mankey into dropping.

            Joel then said, while still panting a bit, “Ok, everyone, it looks like we won. We should do our best to ensure that we do not get surrounded, by wild Pokémon again.”

            Samara then added, “Agreed, we should continue moving. We will leave the downed Mankey here. When they wake up, we should be long gone.”

            The two Recon Squads then continued their journey across the plains. Later that day, they did have a few run-ins with some small groups of local wild Pokémon. However, they were able to defeat them all with much greater ease than they had defeated the pride of wild Mankey.     

            That night, the two squads made a camp within a small cluster of trees. Sven was allowed to take a watch this time. His watch shift was the one closest to dawn, however.

            The next day, the two squads were able, after engaging a couple more groups of weaker wild Pokémon, to reach the gate of the port town.

            When they arrived, at the gates, the guards keeping watch noticed them, relatively quickly. It was not long until a male Cloyster hopped out of the gates, accompanied by a small group of Pokémon, which was made up of Shelder and Corsola. They were all wearing light blue sashes.

            Samara asked the leader of the group, “Are the captain of this town’s guard?”

            The Cloyster responded, “Yes I am, my name is Largo and this is Oceankin Town. I would assume that you are the members of the Western Resistance, who we were told were coming.”

            Joel then answered, “Yes sir, we are Recon Squads numbers 1 and 2. Admittedly we are the only recon squads currently active.”

              Large then told the squads, “In that case, you all may enter Oceankin Town. I will explain our situation to you while we are on the way to our guard headquarters.”

            As the pair of recon squads walked through the streets of Oceankin Town, following Largo and his unit, they saw a number of civilian Pokémon, who were mostly busy with packing up their belonging and also helping the local guards to build and reinforce strategically placed barricades in the streets.

            As they approached the guard headquarters, Largo explained, “We tried our best to stay out of this conflict, as you may have heard already. However, the Protectorate seems to want this port, even though they already have at least one on this island. They have refused any attempts at negotiation with us. They also, have asked us to surrender the port to them peacefully in order to avoid any violence. However, our mayor, Carracosta has refused to give up his settlement without a fight. It seems like you all came just in time, seeing as the Protectorate’s forces are predicted to land here some time tomorrow.”

            As they were walking into the guard’s headquarters, Samara asked Largo, “So, what are we to do to help you. We were all told that you were going to be evacuating your civilians while the town guards hold off the Protectorate’s soldiers.”

            Largo, turned back to the two recon squads and then responded, “Pretty much that, actually. We want you seven to escort the main body of our retreating civilians. They will head to a pre-arranged rendezvous point in the shadow of the mountain where your base is located. My forces, and the locals who are willing to help us fight, will stand our ground, along with our mayor. We will try and take out as many Protectorate units as we can before making a full retreat to the rendezvous point. We do not think that we have any chance of holding the town. I have around thirty fighters at most, and they are attacking us with over one hundred.”

            Joel then asked, “Will you give us lodging for the night here? Tomorrow, you can direct us to your civilians and we will protect them as they escape the area.”

            Largo nodded yes and then had two of his Corsola lead the squads over to some guest sleeping quarters.

            The next morning, alarm horns went off all over Oceankin Town. Large rushed up to the two recon squads, as they had just gotten outside. He shouted at them, “The Protectorate is breaching the town’s port! We will do our best to counterattack them soon. You all will be directed to the evacuees. They are all setting out now. Guard them to the rendezvous point as best as you can. I doubt that wild Pokémon will even think of attacking a group of that size.”

            Before anyone in the group of seven Pokémon could say anything, Largo hopped off to command his forces.

            Samara and Joel then led their squads to the large body of Pokémon, who were fleeing the town.

            The two squads split up. With Recon Squad #1 keeping watch on the evacuees’ left flank and Recon Squad #2 doing the same on their right flank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, readers. To start off, this chapter should be the first one posted after the series' first birthday, which I think that I mentioned last posting. Second, work on the rough draft of project Ruination has been completed. That story consists of 18 chapters and will not require anyone who reads it to have read my previous works. I have begun work on editing it, so expect that story to go up after this one is fully posted, at the latest, for now. Finally, I can confirm that Ruination will be the real last story in this series. I will mark this series as complete once its final chapter goes up. I have been looking into around three separate ideas for a new story to write after ROC is finished. Only one of those ideas would be a new PMD story. Anyways, thank you all for reading this note.


	10. The Evacuation of Oceankin Town

Hearing vague sounds from the nearby battle coming from behind them, Recon Squads #1 and #2 took up their positions. They were flanking a large procession of fleeing civilian Pokémon who were all retreating from Oceankin Town. The two recon squads had been tasked by Largo, the Cloyster Guard Captain of Oceankin, with ensuring that the fleeing civilians all made it to the rendezvous point closer to the island’s central mountain.

            As the civilians were finishing filing out of the doomed town, Sven looked back at Oceankin and thought, “The Protectorate strikes again. Damn them, especially The Herald, whoever she is. I have seen them cause too much suffering in the name of righteousness. I swear to Arceus, creator and lord of Pokémon-kind, I will do whatever I can to stop my creators!”

            Sven then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he then heard Amber’s voice asking him, “Is everything ok, Sven? We have got to keep moving!”

            Sven then opened his eyes, nodded and then told Amber, “Sorry, I was just thinking. You are right, we need to keep moving!”

            Sven then continued to follow his squad mates west. Samara, who was at the head of their group, ordered, “Maurice, we will need you to scout the area from the sky. Let us know if anyone is approaching the group, regardless of their direction.”

            Maurice nodded his understanding, saluted Samara and then took off into the air. He began to circle the fleeing civilians while flying above them.

            The group managed to get to the point where Oceankin Town was beginning to disappear from view, without being attacked from any direction. Then, Maurice called out to his six allies below, “Guys, I see a squad of at least five Protectorate Wingull incoming. They are each carrying small rocks.”   

                Samara and Joel led their squads to the rear of the retreating civilians, while telling them to keep moving towards the rendezvous point. When they had all reached the rear of the retreating civilians, Samara looked carefully at the incoming enemies, she then informed her allies, “Ok, it looks like we have five Wingull. Their sashes indicate that they are not clones. They are members of the Aspiring. As for the rocks… they are not actually rocks…. They are Kabuto!”

            The squadron of Wingull continued their approach, getting closer and closer to the two Recon squads. Once they were at a relatively close distance, they dive-bombed the open plains and dropped their living payloads onto the ground. Then, they pulled up, doing so just in time to avoid colliding with the ground, beaks first.

            Joel shouted, “My squad will handle the four enemies on coming in towards our left flank. I am not sure what this Protectorate squadron hopes to achieve by attacking us. However, we still need to bring them down!”

            Samara then added, “My squad will deal with the six closing in on our right flank. Maurice, you and I will handle the enemy Wingull! Sven, Amber, take out the hostile Kabuto!”  

            As Recon Squad #2 began to fight against their targets, opening up by using Chloe’s Psybeam and Joel’s Dragon Breath to drop an incoming Wingull, Recon Squad #1 split into two groups to engage their oncoming enemies.

            Samara shouted, “For the resistance and Lord Raikou!” She then rushed closer to two of the hostile Wingull, who blasted her with Water Gun attacks. Samara easily withstood their blasts of high-pressure water and then used Thunderbolt to cause a pair of lighting blasts to descend from the sky and knock out both of the Wingull.

            Maurice then used Rock Throw on the last Wingull fighting his squad. His foe was unable to dodge the shot. Nevertheless, he remained conscious.

            As for Sven and Amber, a trio of Kabuto faced them. Amber, upon seeing what Samara had done, said, “At least we have evened the odds here.” She then rushed up to one of the enemies and used her new Mega Drain move to cleanly drop one of her targets.

            Sven then opened up with a Water Pulse. The attack badly damaged the two hostile Kabuto who remained.

            The pair of Kabuto then scuttled up and around Amber. They managed to reach Sven and then both used Absorb on him. Sven let out a scream as a part of his life force was drained out of his body. The last Wingull, who was still fighting with Recon Squad #1, then blasted Maurice with a Water Gun. Maurice was injured by the attack, but was still able to keep fighting.

            The Hostile Wingull then evaded a second Rock Throw from Maurice. The evasive maneuver led the Wingull closer to the ground, however. Samara was able to leap up into the air and deliver a Spark attack to the hostile Wingull. The burst of electricity caused her to faint.

            The two Kabuto saw their air support falling out of the sky, the distraction gave Amber the chance to down one of them with an Absorb of her own. Sven then rushed at the final Kabuto and injured him further with a Lick move.

            The, badly damaged, Sinless Kabuto used yet another Absorb on Sven, who began to feel severely faint.

            Samara then began to rush over to help Recon Squad #2. Maurice was accompanying her.

            Amber looked at how badly damaged Sven was and then shouted, to the final Sinless Kabuto, “You have done enough Damage here! Lights out!” Amber then dropped the final enemy with a second Mega Drain.

            Sven then looked relieved and said, still breathing heavily from his injuries, “We won! We took down a group of enemies with more Pokémon than us, again.”

            Sven and Amber watched as Recon Squad #2, along with Samara and Maurice, eliminated the remaining enemies.

            It was not long until the two Recon Squads regrouped. Joel then said, “We got them all. We do not have the time, or the resources for that matter, to take any of them prisoner, however. We should deal with them and then keep escorting these civilians until they reach their rendezvous point.”

            Chloe then added, “We can only hope that Largo and at least a few of his guards made it out of Oceankin, while also taking down some Protectorate soldiers.”

            Miles then mentioned, “It really depends on how skilled Largo’s town guards are. If they are all seasoned veterans, then they may be able to bring down a large number of Protectorate forces. However, if his forces are mostly weaker volunteers, than they will probably be routed quickly.”

            As the two recon squads were heading back over to their civilian charges, Samara finished, “The durability of their defensive barricades will also matter. Now, we should all be focused on our duty, which is getting these civilians to safety.”

            The two recon squads were able to regroup with the civilians who they had been charged with protecting. They managed to make it through the remainder of the day without encountering any further Protectorate soldiers. That evening, the procession of Pokémon made it closer to the foothills of the central mountain. As night began to fall, the refugees pitched their tents and the two squads made their own camp on a nearby hilltop so they could observe the area as effectively as possible. They all wanted to be sure that it would be difficult for any enemies to approach them, even under the cover of darkness.

            After the two squads had made camp, the resistance’s Pokémon sat around their campfire. Chloe had been positioned nearby so that she could keep the first watch. She had been told to shout to her allies if she saw any approaching Pokémon.

            Joel, to break the silence as they were all eating their rations, said, “Well, it looks like Sven was willing and able to fight against his former allies. I guess we should be able to trust him, for now.”

            Sven then responded, “I am glad that you are finally realizing the truth about me. I hated watching the innocent Pokémon of Oceankin Town being driven out of their homes, you know. I want, as much as anyone else, to stop the Protectorate and their Herald. They are a real menace. In fact, I really wish that we could have been able to stop the Protectorate from even taking that town!”

            Samara then mentioned, “Even though we have two, technically three, Legendary Pokémon on our side, the Western Resistance is not nearly as strong as the Protectorate. Our enemies rule most of the Western Continent, from what we know. We are massively outnumbered, even on our own island. That is why we are awaiting the, hopeful, return of Suicune. She should be bringing the Lady Lugia with her.”

            Maurice then added, “The Lady Lugia is the ‘sister’ of our Lord, Ho-oh. If Suicune can bring her back here, then her help will be extremely useful to our cause. What would be even more helpful, to us, would be if Suicune and Lugia return and also bring other reinforcements.”

            Miles then chimed in, “Well, if these reinforcements do attempt to arrive here, in order to help us, they will need to run the Protectorate’s blockade first. Maybe they will be fast and/or powerful enough to break through the hordes of Sinless guarding the waters around this region. We can only hope, for now.”

            Sven nodded as he heard his comrades’ explanations of the resistance’s situation. He then responded, “I guess that we will have to resist our enemy as best as we can here, for now.”

            Then, just after Sven finished his statement, Chloe called out, “I see some incoming Pokémon. They are slowly approaching the refugees’ tents.”

            Amber then replied, “We should leave Chloe here with Miles to watch for any other incoming Pokémon. We will go check on the new arrivals. We can only hope that they are not a powerful Protectorate unit of some sort.”

            Samara and Joel both agreed to Amber’s idea and then, the five resistance Pokémon all ran down the hill and past a few tents. It was not long until they reached the arriving group of seven Pokémon. They quickly saw that the new arrivals were actually Largo, the guard captain and six assorted Pokémon, all of them wearing the light blue sashes of the Oceankin Town guards. Largo said to the resistance members, “Well, it seems like you all got our refugees this far. Did you all take any casualties?”

            Joel responded, “We did not, Miles and Chloe are atop the nearby hill. They are watching for any other incoming Pokémon, from up there. Only one unit of Ten Protectorate soldiers attacked us. However, we neutralized all of them, defending the civilians in the process. I see that of your fighters, it looks as though only a fraction survived.”

            Largo nodded his whole body, he then said, “We lost over two-thirds of our force of guards during the battle. The Protectorate’s forces hit us hard and fast. They seemed only moderately annoyed that we had gotten our civilians out, previously. Our mayor died defending his town from the invaders. I was only able to salvage myself as well as a small number of my guards from the battlefield. We did our job, though, we held off the enemy for as long as we possibly could.”

            Samara then mentioned, “I assume that your forces will be assisting us in getting your citizens to wherever they need to be. You were supposed to rendezvous with them later. However, you all are here now.”

            Largo then responded, “They are my kin, we will escort them north from here, actually. You all are dismissed; you should be returning to the Western Resistance’s base. I will say this, though, the remnants of Oceankin Town will stand with the Resistance whenever possible in the future. We should have sided with you all earlier instead of just hoping that the Protectorate would leave us alone. Good luck in your future endeavors. If you ever have to face the fury of a full-scale Protectorate assault, you will need it!”

            After finishing up talking with Largo and his troops, the two recon squads rested the night where they had made camp. The next morning, Largo began to lead both his remaining guards and the refugees north past the central mountain. Samara and Joel began to lead their respective squads back to the mountain castle. Once again, both units were traveling as just one group of seven Pokémon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again readers, I just want to let you all know that I have both completed and edited my Ruination super-prequel story. Therefore, that story will begin posting after this story is fully up at the latest. Also, I have begun planning for a possible "spiritual successor" story that will take place in a different continuity from ROC, but will be another PMD-based story. More on that possibility later, probably.


	11. Returning from the Evacuation

Recon Squads 1 and 2 were advancing up the lower portions of the central mountain. They were both returning from their mission to assist in the, ultimately successful, evacuation of Oceankin Town. As the two squads were slowly advancing up the slope, Sven mentioned, “I wonder what sort of mission we will be given next? We only seem to be harassing the Protectorate’s forces, honestly. I would like for us to be able to engage our enemies in battle in such a way that would severely damage their strength on this island.”

            Samara replied, “I do not know when Entei is planning another major raid. We are still in the unenviable position of being greatly outnumbered since Lord Ho-oh and his army disappeared. You should realize, by now, that we are primarily carrying out attacks using guerrilla warfare tactics, such as attacking small units of enemies and then rapidly retreating.”

            Sven sighed and nodded after Samara finished. Amber then said, “It would be nice to live in a world without the Protectorate, again. I admit, though, I do not have much to go back to.”

            Joel looked over at Amber and then told her, “You have me, Amber. You should never forget that.”

            Amber smiled warmly back at Joel, as the group continued their advance up the mountainside.

            The two recon squads continued to advance for around another hour before they all heard howling and growling coming from both their left and their right. Maurice looked irritated as he said, “Oh, great! It looks like the Poochyena from before are back!”

            Samara nodded her head no and then exclaimed, “It’s a pack of wild Growlithe! We have stumbled into their territory!”

            A group of six wild Growlithe, three coming from each side, advanced on the two recon squads. Sven smiled, he knew he would be effective in this fight.

            As Recon Squad #2 braced to fight the Growlithe coming at them, Sven shouted to his squad-mates, “Get behind me!”

            Sven then opened up with a well-aimed Water Pulse. The cone of intense, high-pressure water heavily wounded all three of the Growlithe.

            The trio of charging wild Pokémon then began their attack. Two of them bombarded Amber with Ember shots, wounding her severely. Then, the final Growlithe ran up to Sven and bit him, hard. Sven flinched from the extreme pain caused by his foe’s fangs sinking in to his body.    

            Then, Samara rushed at one of the Growlithe from behind and bit into her, hard. Maurice then downed the Growlithe, who had bit into Sven, with a Rock Throw. Amber, into order to partially heal herself, used one of her Mega Drain attacks against the Growlithe who Samara had bitten. The Growlithe dropped unconscious, as Amber drained away a portion of his life force.

            The last Growlithe then fired an Ember at Amber, trying to knock her out. However, Amber dodged the pulse of flame.

            Sven then recovered, he then told his squad-mates, “Deal with the last one. I am going to help the others!”

            Samara, Amber and Maurice then ganged up on the last Growlithe as Sven ran over to where Recon Squad #2 were engaging the two remaining Growlithe on their side. Sven was able to carefully aim his Water Pulse so as to knock out both of his, already injured, targets.

            Miles breathed a sigh of relief as Chloe said, “Thanks for that. However, I think that we could have taken them, even without your help.”

            Sven then turned his head to watch as Maurice dropped the Growlithe he had left to his squad, using another Rock Throw. After the pack of Growlithe had been dealt with, Sven and Amber both began to glow brightly.

            Samara then noted, “Well, I guess that Sinless can evolve. At least rogue Sinless can.”

            Amber evolved from Treecko to Grovyle and Sven evolved from Froakie to Frogadier. Joel then smiled at Amber, remarking, “You know, once I evolve enough, I will be able to fly!”

            Sven seemed pleased with his new body, saying, “I am taller now, that is for sure. Anyway, guys, we should get moving so that we return to headquarters soon.”

            The two recon squads moved, quickly, out of the area. They did not want the defeated Growlithe waking up fast enough to pose any sort of threat to them again.

            The two squads were able to make their way up the mountainside and reach the gates of the ancient castle. They were, of course, quickly let back into the courtyard upon their arrival.

            It was getting close to evening when they arrived. Samara and Joel, as the two squad leaders, were to go and report to Raikou. The rest of the resistance Pokémon who had participated in the mission were dismissed.

            Miles and Chloe went to check on their potential business operation. Amber had volunteered to go with Joel and Samara to help present their report. Maurice decided to go and check the castle’s battlements, as he often did. As for Sven, he decided to return to the building where his loft room was located.

            When Sven entered the building’s first floor, he saw Daphne. She was carrying her usual clipboard and looking over the various stocks of supplies, as she frequently did. Daphne heard the door opening and whirled around to see Sven. She then asked, “Oh…Sven is that you?”

            Sven nodded and then responded, “Yes, Daphne, it’s me. I actually just evolved and so did Amber. We just got back from helping the civilians of Oceankin Town evacuate. We left them with the remnants of their local guard. They are, supposedly, heading farther north past this mountain as we speak.”

            Daphne nodded and then added, “Well, it seems like both of our recon squads are made up of exceptional Pokémon. I assume that you all made it back here with no casualties?”

            Sven simply nodded and then thought for a moment, he then asked Daphne, “Do you finally trust me? It seems like my squad-mates, and now the members of Joel’s squad trust me. I would really love to put our previous conflicts firmly in the past.”

            Daphne sighed and then said, “Ok, Sven… you keep coming back from missions without betraying our cause. Also, it seems like you really do despise your former masters. Finally, it seems as though the other Recon Squad members trust you now. Fine… I will give up on harassing you, unless some future event proves my previous suspicions to be correct.”

            Sven breathed a massive sigh of relief and then told Daphne, “Thank you very much, I really appreciate you finally seeing reason. I am still sorry about your family’s relationship to the Protectorate. However, I am mainly relieved that we can move forward now with a greater level of trust than we had before.”

            Daphne nodded and smiled, she then said, “Well, that is now out of the way. You should, probably get some rest. I still have quite a bit of work to do here, before I go to sleep.”

            Sven simply nodded back at Daphne. He then hopped up the stairs to his room in the attic.

            The next day, the two recon squads were all paid for their work. They were then given a brief period of rest. Over the next week, after their brief rest, the two units continued to complete minor missions for the Western Resistance. They drove away packs of wild Pokémon; they eliminated some stray Protectorate patrols. Finally, they stopped the construction of a couple of new Protectorate watchtowers.

            One morning, Sven was woken up from his bed in the attic. He looked up to see a concerned looking Amber. She said, “We are all to gather at the briefing room as soon as possible. Hurry downstairs to meet us whenever you can!”

            Sven nodded, groggily, he then got out of bed and slowly followed Amber down the stairs.

            When Sven arrived at the briefing room, he saw Raikou, Entei and the other six recon squad members, as well as around six other resistance fighters.

            Once Sven had arrived, Entei began the meeting, he said, “Hello, everyone. I have some distressing news. Our spies and scouts have been able to confirm that the armies of the Protectorate have recently been amassing at their southern ports. We also believe that they are just beginning to build up their forces in occupied Oceankin Town. The most worrying part of this news is that the massive Protectorate force, consisting of both Sinless and Aspiring, has begun to march north toward our position.”

            After looking over the, deeply worried looking, assembled Pokémon, Raikou took over from where his brother had left off, saying, “We think that the Protectorate’s armies are being led by a pair of unidentifiable airborne Pokémon. They are apparently draconic in nature, but do not match the appearance of any known Pokémon species. Their force is believed to contain over two hundred Pokémon.”

            The assembled Pokémon were all completely speechless after being informed of their enemy’s numbers. Entei saw the looks on their faces and then declared to his soldiers, “I know that Suicune has not yet returned with the Lady Lugia, so we have very few others to turn to. However, we must all do our best to repulse this enemy attack. The Protectorate’s leadership must believe that we will be defeated by this massive exercise of force. We need to prove them wrong!”

            It was then Raikou who spoke, “We will be drafting a battle plan that will make the maximum use of our fortress’s defensive position. We will be also be drafting a plan to evacuate both our forces and our staff to the west, if it becomes truly necessary. Now, I want both of our recon squads and our assault squad to be ready to defend this fortress once the Protectorate’s army arrives.”

            Sven was the first squad member in the room to speak up. He said, “This castle is the only home that I have ever known. The Protectorate might be my creators. However, I will not let them take this place from me… from us! They have done enough damage, already!”

            The assembled Pokémon all cheered as Entei and Raikou both nodded their approval of Sven’s statements. Samara then said, “We will do whatever you two say! We need to be fully prepared for the assault to come!”

            Entei then finished, “Alright, the enemy army will be here in a matter of days. We will draft our battle plan soon and then inform all of you as to what your jobs will be. All of you are dismissed, for now.”

            The members of all three squads left the briefing room, so as to allow their leaders to make their battle plan in peace. The members of Recon Squads #1 and #2 returned to their lodgings to rest up for the grand engagement that was soon to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I just wanted to quickly let you all know that I have made some real strides in planning for a "spiritual successor" work to the ROC series. I can say that I have the title and a large amount of the plot, characters, and changes made from ROC figured out. The title will, if I do not change it, resemble one of the ROC story's titles despite the lack of continuity between ROC and the new story. I will probably begin writing that story relatively soon. This next PMD story of mine will probably be standalone, rather than the start of a new series. Thank you all for reading, as usual.


	12. The Guardian’s Forces Assembled

The Ninetales Arya had spent the last couple of days, with occasional breaks, riding on the back of the Legendary Pokémon Lugia. Her Vulpix daughter, Miranda had been by her side the whole way. When Lugia had appeared to Arya and Miranda, Arya had just finished telling her daughter about her service in the Imperium, something that she had hidden from her only child until that point. When Lugia had asked Arya for help, something that Arya had offered to give if asked, a century ago, Miranda had “jumped” at the chance to go with Lugia. During the long flight, Lugia had not divulged much information to the two Pokémon riding her. She had only mentioned that the new threat, which had manifested itself in Ho-oh’s domain, was known as “the Protectorate.” Other than that, she had mentioned the existence of a blockade around the western continent and the island directly to the north of it.

            Arya saw a small, seemingly deserted, island coming up below them. Lugia shouted to her passengers, “Hold on you two, we have finally reached our rendezvous point.”

            As Arya and Miranda prepared for the dive towards the small island, Arya asked Lugia, “Will you finally tell us what is going on, once we land?”

            Lugia nodded and then replied, “Yes, you will learn more once we land. I presume that you remember Suicune, she will have more information for you two.” 

            Arya nodded her understanding as they began to dive towards the island. After Lugia landed on the island’s beach, Arya and Miranda dismounted. Miranda said after dismounting, “That was quite a long ride. I think I will need a moment to let by legs recover.”

            Arya nodded at her daughter, agreeing with Miranda’s sentiments, she then saw a Pokémon she recognized walking towards them. Suicune looked at Arya and Miranda and then up at Lugia, she then said, “Well, you have returned, Lady Lugia. There is not much time to waste, we need to break through, or evade, the blockade’s patrols and then make our way to the mountain fortress…. I see that you brought our old friend Arya back. I was unsure who you would find to help us.”

            Lugia then replied, “Well, the current Guild Mistress of the Pokémon Adventurers Guild seems obsessed with finding what is in some ancient human vault, which is apparently hidden deep beneath Megapolis. So, I did not think to ask her for help, even though I was on very good terms with her great-grandmother, Kyla.”

            Arya flinched a bit at the mention of the name Kyla. Miranda gave her mother a bit of a confused look, upon seeing that. Arya then stepped up and then said, to Suicune, “Suicune, my daughter and I have come a long distance to help you with this ‘Protectorate.’ I would like to know what it is, and how strong their blockade is, right now.”

            Suicune nodded to Arya and then replied, “The Protectorate is a society of Pokémon that has emerged within the last two years, on the Western Continent. They serve a mysterious, apparently female, leader, who is known only as The Herald, with absolute loyalty. They claim that they seek to perfect Pokémon society and eliminate wrongdoing in all off its forms. They have created an army of cloned Pokémon, known as The Sinless, to make up to bulk of their forces…”

            Arya looked shocked, she then interrupted, “Cloning Pokémon? Last time I encountered that it was with…”

            Lugia then told Arya, “The Sinless are, apparently clones of normal Pokémon, they are not like your old ‘friend’ Mewtwo. I was told that they serve their masters with absolute loyalty, they do not think independently, at all.”

            Suicune then added, “The Protectorate does not give those they describe as ‘evildoers’ any second chances, they will execute or ‘disappear’ any Pokémon that they believe his committed a ‘serious sin.’ My Lord, Ho-oh, went to the Western Continent’s mainland with his army. However, we lost contact with them after a certain point. When the Protectorate’s armies reached our island, Entei declared the foundation of the Western Resistance, in order to beat back the Protectorate. We need all of the help we can get against them. We do not know what their ultimate goal is. However, it cannot be good.”

            Miranda then looked up at her mother and said, “Mom, this Protectorate sounds like the Imperium that you told me about. Still, we need to stop them, it sounds like they are destroying the lives of countless Pokémon!”

            Arya thought for a moment, with all eyes on her, she then said aloud, “Lady Lugia, I feel as though I still owe you after what the Imperium did to you in the past. Also, I cannot let my daughter down. I will do what I can to help you put a stop to this murderous society. Now, how do we get to this mountain fortress of yours?”  

            Lugia then replied, “I knew that you were a good Pokémon at heart, Arya. Now, we will advance toward the blockade, deal with whatever patrols come at us and then, quickly move towards the mountain fortress. Once there we will meet up with Entei and Raikou and see what our next move will be. My three servants, including Diego, will be back here from their scouting mission, soon enough.”

            Arya nodded and then Suicune looked in the opposite direction and shouted, “There they are now!”

            Arya saw a trio of large avian Pokémon, each still smaller than Lugia herself, landing on the beach. One of them was blue, the other yellow and the third orange. As Arya and Miranda took the new arrivals in, the blue one spoke, she said, “Arya! I had no idea that the Lady Lugia would be retrieving you to help us on this mission? Do you recognize my voice? Of course, I have a new body now, and I go by Articuno…”

            Arya’s jaw dropped as Miranda gave her a concerned look. Arya then stammered, “Valeria… you are alive? …Ha ha, I guess that this will be just like old times! I am glad that we managed to, somewhat, make up in the past. This would be even more awkward if we had not. By the way… this Vulpix is Miranda… my daughter.”

            Articuno looked a bit surprised at the final part of Arya’s statement. She then asked, “Your daughter? Who is her father?”

            Arya and Miranda both looked at each other awkwardly. After a moment, Arya replied, “We do not know who her father is, honestly. She was the product of a single night. Regardless of her origin, she is my only child and I love her.”

            Miranda smiled as Articuno nodded. Then, the yellow avian Pokémon flew up into the air and then landed next to Lugia, he told her, “My Lady, the Protectorate’s blockade seems to have reduced in strength since we last observed it. Their patrols have less Pokémon on them, and they come into view less frequently. Unless this is a stratagem of theirs, we should take advantage of this and move out, quickly.”

            Lugia nodded and then said, “Of course, Zapdos. We will be on our way soon enough.”

            Arya then thought to herself, “So, that is Diego now. I thought that he would be the one with fire coming out of their wings…speaking of which…”

            The third large avian then approached Arya and Miranda. She then said, “It’s great so see you again, Arya. Do you remember me?”

            Arya, once again looked relatively surprised as she exclaimed, “Henrietta? You are serving Lugia now, too? Ok then, at least I do not have to meet anyone new, for now.”

            Miranda giggled, she was amused that her mother was meeting so many of her old acquaintances, again. Arya gave her daughter a bit of a look and then smiled at her.

            Lugia then told the assembled Pokémon, “We are going to set out for the mountain fortress tomorrow morning, as soon as the sun begins to rise. We will try to move past the Protectorate blockade as quickly as we can. If we encounter any hostile patrols, then we will engage them, while continuing to move forward. Once we are past the blockade, I will lead the way to the Western Resistance’s headquarters. Once we arrive there, we will link up with Entei and Raikou. Then, we will figure out our next move from that point.”

            Suicune then added, “Arya and Miranda will have to ride on Lady Lugia’s back, again. I will be, possibly, most at risk of any of us, because I will be running across the water. I may require assistance from the rest of you if I encounter a large Protectorate patrol.”

            Lugia nodded and then replied, “We will do our best to keep our eyes on you, while we are advancing past the blockade. Anyways, we should prepare to rest soon. We will have a long day ahead of us, tomorrow.”

            That evening, Miranda was already asleep; Lugia and her three servants were to take turns keeping watch, just in case any Protectorate, or wild, Pokémon were to arrive. Lugia herself had the first watch; she was looking out to sea, in the direction of the Western Continent when Arya came up to her slowly.

            After Lugia noticed Arya, she asked, “Arya, I wonder has your mind changed with regard to your past with the Imperium, yet? I know how important it was to you. However, it seems that a well-intentioned Pokémon, like yourself, would eventually grow to regret their involvement in such a society.”

            Arya sighed deeply and then replied, “I feel that there were certainly things that we could have done better. I know that we adopted the attitude of being superior to everyone else and, therefore, able to make their decisions for them. The torture, the wars of conquest, the forced labor, the ‘Secret Police’… I do not know if those were, really good ideas. On a related topic, I wonder if this ‘Herald’ is actually trying to make an ‘Imperium rip-off?’ As much as I said, in the past, that I would want someone to take up the mantle of civilizer, I am not sure if that is really what we need at this point.”        

            Lugia nodded and then asked, “Arya, you should be resting up for tomorrow. Why are you here?”

            Arya quickly replied, “There is something that you should know, so that there are no major secrets between us. You see… after you left Semberta Town with Diego, before he became Zapdos, I discovered that the Guild member Kyla was directly responsible for Mewtwo’s death. I also became aware that she had killed my fiancé in order to avenge the death of her father, Geoffrey…”

            Lugia then asked, “How did you become aware of her actions? Who told you, if anyone?”

            Arya shrugged and then replied, “I overheard some Pokémon at the Guild office in Semberta Town talking about her team’s exploits. I believe that Zane, the Sableye, was the one telling the story. Anyway, I felt a burning desire to confront Kyla about her actions, regardless of her justification. I was able to take an extended vacation from my work at the Sherriff’s office of Semberta Town and then travel by barge to the northern coast of the Central Continent. Once there, I traveled with a caravan until I reached Polumbos City. Once there, I located Kyla and confronted her, in private, about her killing of Mewtwo.”

            Lugia raised an ‘eyebrow’ and then asked, “What happened after that?”

            Arya told Lugia, “After that, we talked and she consistently defended her actions. I challenged her to a duel, in my blind rage. She accepted and, we went outside the city. Kyla was a powerful opponent. However, I had some advantages over her. My fire-based attacks brought her down after a few exchanges of moves. To be fair, I survived a couple of Aura Spheres first… it was a difficult win for me. I saw my love’s killer lying, unconscious, in front of me. I could have avenged Mewtwo right then and there. However, I did not kill her. I knew that if I did, I would be caught, eventually. More importantly, she had a family and had been acting to avenge her dead father. I did not forgive her, necessarily. However, I realized that she did not deserve to die. I was able to drag her unconscious body back to the city and leave it there. Once I made sure that she had been found and would be safe, I left on the next caravan out. I did not break any laws, she agreed to the duel and I did not kill her. I am reasonably sure that if she had won, she would have let me live, as well. As for why I am telling you this, I did not want that to come out later in any other way. Admittedly, even Miranda does not know that story, yet.”

            Lugia smiled at Arya and said, “As I said before, you are a good Pokémon, Arya. Regardless of how misguided you may be. Now, you should go and get some rest.”

            Arya nodded at Lugia and then walked back over to where Miranda was sleeping. She curled up near by her daughter, and then fell asleep.


	13. The Battle of Central Mountain

\---

            The day after it had been announced that the Protectorate’s armies were advancing on the mountain fortress, Entei and Raikou gathered the approximately forty residents of the castle in the main courtyard. It was around noon when they had all arrived. Once everyone was there, Entei summed up the situation they were all in, by saying, “Alright, everyone, this upcoming battle has the potential to determine the fate of the Western Resistance. We will all need to ‘give all that we have’ in order to beat back the enemy army, which is rapidly advancing on our position. We believe that the enemy has over four times as many Pokémon as we do. Also, the two unidentified Pokémon leading their forces may be Legendary Pokémon. Regardless of those factors, we need to all be strong and defend our headquarters from the onslaught.”

            Raikou then stepped up and added, “Now, as for our plan to resist the Protectorate’s offensive… Our first line of defense will be the southern wall. We will have most of the less-experienced Pokémon in the castle crewing the catapults. The other Pokémon on the walls will either use medium to long-range moves, or slingshots firing Blast Seeds to attack the advancing force of hostiles. Then, our second layer of defenders, including my brother and I, will be waiting just beyond the gate to this fortress. Once the Protectorate’s army breaches the gate, we will attack the enemy’s army will all of our remaining force. We will only keep around five Pokémon in reserve to help coordinate an evacuation, if necessary, and watch for any Protectorate forces trying to flank us from another direction.”

            As the Pokémon in the crowd digested the information that they had just been given, Entei then proclaimed, “Everyone among us will have a role to play. We cannot afford to have a single one of us flee in cowardice or refuse to help fight! The Protectorate’s army is moving quickly! They, most likely, should be here tomorrow evening. We will begin preparations for our defense immediately! Our quartermasters will distribute slingshots and Blast Seeds and we will ready our catapults to fire on the enemies advancing up the southern side of this mountain. Now, if there are not any questions, we will begin our preparations!”  

            The various members of the Western Resistance scattered in order to help with the battle preparations. The two recon squads were given different orders. Joel’s Recon Squad #2 was to help hold off the enemy from atop the south wall. However, Recon Squad #1 was to help the second wave by standing and fighting with Entei and Raikou. After their battle assignments had been given out, Sven went to the storage room to see if he could find Daphne.

            When Sven arrived in the storage room, he saw that Daphne had just finished giving out slingshots and some small bundles of Blast Seeds to their intended recipients. Those items were to be placed atop the walls, nearby the catapults, so that the defenders could access them easily once they took up their positions just prior to the actual battle. Daphne looked moderately exhausted from her work when Sven arrived. She looked at him and asked, “So, from what you have told me, you are probably not pleased with the Protectorate coming to us.”

            Sven nodded energetically and then responded, “You are completely correct. Anything that puts me at greater risk of being captured by the Protectorate is something I dislike. I have willingly gone on missions with my squad to help fight them, in the hope that they would, at minimum, retreat from this island. I hate the idea of them now being on the offensive.”

            Daphne nodded and then mentioned, “Well, I do not like it either. This castle has been my home for quite some time, and I do not want to lose it to our enemies. I will be up on the walls myself, helping with the catapults and using a slingshot myself, if necessary. I have been told to help coordinate the transport of as much of our supplies as possible, if we need to flee from this place.”

            Sven nodded back at Daphne and then said, “Well, good luck with holding the walls. I will be in the thick of it, along with my squad, once they breach our gate. I just wanted to make sure that I saw you again… Just in case either, or both, of us do not make it out of the next battle alive.”

            Daphne just looked slightly awkward and then blushed, she then stuttered, “That…what you just said…it sounds like you…”

            Sven just smiled and responded, “I had my reasons, beyond not wanting to be discriminated against, for not wanting you to hate me. I have always found you to be beautiful. I am sorry if you are offended by my interest in you.”

            Daphne just stood there and then slowly replied, “Assuming you mean what you say, you really are not like the others of your kind.”

            Sven, still unsure of Daphne’s ultimate opinion of his affections, smiled back at her and then said, “I am defective and proud of it.”

            Daphne simply nodded and then finished, “I need to make sure that we have a sufficient number of catapult boulders ready for tomorrow’s battle. Goodbye Sven.”

            Daphne quickly left the room, heading upstairs. As she left, Sven just hoped that he had not offended the object of his affections. Sven then went to regroup with the rest of his squad.

            The members of Recon Squad’s #1 and #2 spent the rest of their day helping to prepare the fortress for the coming assault. Maurice did his best to scout the nearby foothills for the approaching Protectorate army. The rest of the squad did what they could inside the fortress. Samara, of course, was attending to her Lord, Raikou. She helped him with setting up the positions of the second wave of defenders, which they were both to be a part of. Sven noticed that Amber was spending a decent amount of time with Joel. He was aware of their long-lasting friendship and, therefore, he had no suspicions with regard to the two of them.

            That night, the defenders of the fortress slept as peacefully as they could. The next morning, the defenders continued their preparations for the hostile Protectorate force’s arrival. As evening fell, later in the day, the denizens of the mountain fortress were called to their battle stations. Sven and his squad looked through a small window out at the mountain road.

            What they all saw was a massive force of Protectorate Pokémon. They stretched back a considerable distance, mainly because the road was not wide enough for more than around twelve of them abreast. Many of the Protectorate soldiers were carrying torches to help light the way for themselves and their comrades. Also visible, were around twenty circling airborne Pokémon. Lastly, and most worryingly, they saw a pair of hovering draconic Pokémon directly in front of the first rank of Sinless. Their forms were somewhat obscured by the darkness. However, one of them looked red and white, the other was blue and white.

            One of the two airborne draconic Pokémon called out, in a male voice, “Entei, Raikou, show yourselves! We wish to parlay with at least one of you, so that we may all be spared a destructive battle.”

            Entei then carefully walked up to one of the open window and peeked through it. He then shouted, “Who are you? I will not even attempt to parlay with someone who I have no knowledge of.”

            The same Pokémon shouted back, “My name is Latios and this is my sister, Latias. We are the personal servants of our mistress, the Exalted Herald…”

            Raikou then called out, from the other open window, as the resistance members on the wall prepared for a fight, “Who is the Herald, what is her real name? We want to know who your leader truly is!”

            As the resistance’s Pokémon shouted their agreement, Latias, this time, called out, “The Exalted Herald has ordered us to not yet reveal her true identity. However, you may see her soon enough. Regardless, we give all of you this one offer. Surrender this fortress to us and we will spare every one of you. We want to end the bloodshed and conflict between us. Resist us and we will take this mountain by force!”

            Sven felt very nervous at the possibility that the resistance would surrender. He had a strong feeling that the Protectorate would reprogram him if they captured him. He actually breathed a deep sigh of relief when Entei responded, “I cannot surrender this fortress to you…. You will have to pry it from us! Fire!”

            The catapults immediately launched their first wave of boulders into the Protectorate formation. Then, the defenders atop the walls began to launch a combination of ranged moves and Blast Seeds at the front lines of the Protectorate force.

            Entei and Raikou each fired off one ranged move, Flamethrower and Thunder Shock respectively, from the windows and then, they ordered them closed. This was to prevent enemy ranged attacks from easily penetrating the castle. Outside of the castle’s front gate, Latios barked out orders to his troops, “Latias, take the airborne units and attack their catapults first! Everyone else, charge the front gate! I will watch out for enemy flyers and coordinate our offense.”

            Everyone felt the ground shake as the Sinless making up the front ranks of the invasion force rushed the front gate. A Rhydon took the front of their formation, surviving a number of Blast Seeds on his way to the gate. Eventually, he reached the gate and began, with his allies’ help, to batter it down.

            Meanwhile, Latias and the flying Sinless began to attack the catapults as their crews kept them firing at the Protectorate land force. The Pokémon using ranged attacks and blast seeds, including Recon Squad #2 were forced to focus on the airborne enemies.

            Sven and his allies were focused on the barred gate. Which, Latios had begun launching Dragon Breath attacks against. The gate was weakening quickly. Samara shouted, “Their flyers are making it harder for the wall’s defenders to focus on the main enemy force…”

            Then the present resistance Pokémon gasped as Latias’s Dragon Breath blasted one of their four catapults off the wall. The contraption crumpled in a useless heap in the courtyard.

            Sven then looked to the, severely damaged, gate and shouted, “They are breaking in, cover me!”

            As Sven ran forward, the gate collapsed completely. A weakened, but victorious looking, Rhydon stood at the center of the Sinless force. As the Sinless were about to advance through the breach, Sven fired a Water Pulse into them. The injured Rhydon, as well as a number of weaker Protectorate soldiers fainted. Latios even sustained a small amount of injury from the cone of water.  

            Raikou then rushed into what was left of the Protectorate frontline and blasted them with his Discharge attack. Entei then dealt with the stragglers by running into their midst and using a Lava Plume on them.

            The Protectorate has still only lost a fraction of its invasion force, the Sinless and Aspiring soldiers behind the shattered front line rapidly charged into battle, with Latios supporting them from above.

            Even though the Protectorate’s airborne troops had taken heavy losses, they were distracting the defenders on the rooftop from attacking the main force. Latias used another Dragon breath to eliminate a second weakened catapult.

            Raikou, seeing what was going on above, ordered, “Joel, get your squad down here! Everyone else up there, abandon the catapults and focus on taking out their remaining flying forces.”

            Their allies covered Joel, Miles and Chloe, as they ran across the wall and down some stairs to join the clash for the breach. Meanwhile, some intense fighting occurred at the chokepoint created by the breached main gate Samara and Amber had joined Raikou, Entei and the assault squad in holding the line as best as they could. Maurice was using Rock Throw to pick off weakened looking enemies from a distance. Sven was staying reasonably close to the frontline and blasting swathes of enemies with Water Pulses when he saw an opening.

            Despite heavy losses, the Protectorate ground force just kept sending in more Pokémon to try and break through. Meanwhile, Latias was destroying the remaining catapults. She continued to do this, even as the remaining defenders on the wall were dropping her airborne followers, one by one. Entei, as he was engaging the main Protectorate force, shouted, “Everyone on the walls, if you can finish off the airborne enemies, come down here to help us!”

            Entei was right to ask for backup, he saw that both weaker defenders and assault squad members were beginning to fall to the invader’s onslaught. Latios was using well-aimed Dragon Breath attacks to down some of the defenders who had been weakened by his soldiers.

            The defenders on the walls began to fall back to the courtyard as Latias, who had destroyed every catapult, turned to them. The Protectorate’s airborne troops had all either been defeated or had joined up with the ground force pushing through the destroyed gate. Despite the presence of the powerful Entei and Raikou, the castle’s defenders were being pushed back. The Protectorate soldiers stepped over the bodies of their felled comrades and kept pushing. Most of the weaker defenders had been felled and half of the resistance’s assault squad was in the same position. The members of the two recon squads and the other remaining defenders kept dropping the Protectorate’s advancing troops. However, the enemy still had around one hundred Pokémon in reserve. A reserve that was slowly, but steadily marching up the mountain road.

            Entei saw Latios drop another member of the assault squad. He then shouted, “Anyone who is willing to hold this position, do so. Everyone else, fall back to the briefing room with us or to the storage room to begin the evacuation!”

            The members of the two recon squads were despondent that their enemies had forced them into a retreat. However, they knew that they had to follow their orders. Around five resistance Pokémon remained to try and prevent the Protectorate’s army from immediately chasing the fleeing fighters and their leaders. Latias and Latios quickly flew over the walls and then began helping their soldiers attack the resistance fighters who were staying behind.

            Meanwhile, Entei and Raikou led both of the recon squads to the central compound of the castle. The remaining two assault squad members led the other retreating resistance fighters, including Daphne, to the storage room to gather supplies for the evacuation.

            When the nine Pokémon reached the central compound, they closed all of the doors behind them. Then, Entei led them all to the briefing room. He said, “Alright, hopefully we pulled some enemies away from the evacuating Pokémon. Our allies know we are all to head to the cave system near the western coastline if we can escape. Now, we try and hold off as many waves of Protectorate soldiers as we can here and then attempt to escape in any way possible.”

            Sven sighed, he just hoped that if they were all overrun, that he would be killed in action, rather than captured by the invading Protectorate army.

            Raikou shouted, “I hear the doors being forced open. Prepare for combat!”

            Entei then shouted, “We will hold the left side of the room. That way, we might be able to hold onto one possible escape route.

            Sven looked out of a small window, he was at least relieved to see Daphne and four other Pokémon escaping out from the fortress’s western wall. He then saw most of the Protectorate’s troops in that area re-directing to assist in attacking the central compound.

            Then, Sven heard the sound of the main door to the compound being destroyed. He readied himself for the incoming enemies.


	14. A Disturbing Discovery

Sven, along with his six recon squad comrades, Entei and Raikou, were preparing their defense of the mountain castle’s briefing room. They were intending to hold off the Protectorate’s invasion force for long enough that their remaining allies could evacuate the fortress. Then, they planned to try and make a retreat from the building themselves.

            Entei laid out the new battle plan, ordering, “Alright, Raikou and I will form the front line of our fallback defense. As for the rest of you, you all will make a formation behind us, and attack the enemy from a distance.”

            Samara then walked up to Raikou and sternly said, “My Lord, I will stand at your side for this fight. It may our last, after all.”

            Raikou nodded at his attendant and then said, “I can hear the enemy rushing through the building. They will be here very soon….”

            As Raikou was about to finish his statement he saw the first waves of Sinless bursting through one of the briefing room’s doors. He then rushed at the Sinless as they tried to form a combat formation and blasted them all with a Discharge. Samara ran in with him and struck a few enemies with her Thunderbolt move. Entei then moved in behind them and sniped a weakened Sinless Breloom with a Flamethrower, dropping him.  

            Entei then called out, “Hold this room! We will make them pay for every inch of our fortress!”

            The six recon squad Pokémon, including Sven, moved in behind their leaders and unleashed a barrage of attacks into the advancing Sinless.

            The Sinless continued trying to push forward, ineffectively, for the next few moments. The Protectorate forces then, leaving a few of their number as a rear guard, backed up and began running away from the defenders.

            Raikou then shouted, “Eliminate their rear guard. We might be able to use this as a chance to escape while they are trying to find another way into this room.            

            The resistance Pokémon used their best attacks to eliminate the small unit left to distract them. Then, they turned for the nearest other door. Miles opened the door and then the Resistance Pokémon rushed through it. As they navigated back toward the courtyard, they encountered the occasional small cluster of Sinless, which they dispatched. Entei shouted, as they were about to burst back into the courtyard, “Sadly, we are in full evacuation mode right now. We will only attempt to take out the enemies directly in our way. We will make a beeline for the western wall’s exit. We can only hope that they have not barricaded it already.”

            The resistance Pokémon found their way outside and then started advancing on the western wall. When they turned a corner, they found that they had no more conscious allies in the area. More importantly, Latias, Latios and a unit of around ten assorted Sinless were blocking the western wall’s gate.

            As the resistance Pokémon slowly advanced on the Protectorate force blocking their way out, Latios shouted, “Your comrades have fled into the night and we have no intention of allowing you to do the same. All we have to do is hold you all of long enough for our allies inside the central compound to come out and flank you. We give you nine one last chance, surrender now so that there can be no more bloodshed tonight. No matter what, we will take this fortress.”

            Entei then shouted back, “So, you really do want this place, why do you want it? Do you want this fortress for its strategic value?”

            Latias replied, “We are not going to give anything away, we will not risk disobeying our Lady.”

            At that point, a blazing red object appeared from high up in the night sky. It began rocketing towards the ground until it came into full view.

            Latias and Latios, in unison, shouted, “She is here! The Herald, our supreme leader, has come forth to confront you personally!”

            The object was soon revealed to be a vast white Pokémon, who made a graceful landing on the ground, in between her servants and her enemies. Latias and Latios both bowed their front ends, a gesture that the squad of Sinless mimicked.

            Raikou looked at the majestic draconic beast before him and, as she took in her foes, shouted, “…Reshiram, you are the Herald?”

            The white dragon simply nodded her head and then said, while her voice was filled with an eerie calm, “I do not see them bowing to anyone else. Now, this is you true last chance to surrender yourselves and this base, to the Protectorate.”

            Sven then spoke up, trying to influence his leader’s decision, “We will never surrender to you! You are the leader of an army of hypocrites and murderers!”

            Reshiram locked eyes with Sven and then, anger beginning to fill her voice, said, “I think I might know who you are…. You are the defective, aren’t you? You were supposed to be a soldier in the fight for goodness and perfection. Now, you fight alongside those who resist those values.”

            Sven shouted back, his allies’ eyes now on him, “You exterminate and enslave those who you think are not good enough! You are the villain here, not us!”

            Reshiram then looked away from Sven, she then said, “I am growing impatient with this conversation. The defective will be dealt with later. Now, I am asking you one last time to give this fight up! You will be flanked soon enough, and now I am here to ensure your defeat.”

            As Entei and Raikou looked to each other A figure, moving at blinding speed, rushed into the courtyard When she stopped, everyone present saw a blue, four legged, Pokémon had taken up a position next to Raikou. She said to him, with surprising calm, “I am back, darling. I brought some help… not an army, but…”

            As soon as Entei and Raikou realized that Suicune had returned, a flight of four large avian Pokémon swept out of the sky. Entei shouted, “Lady Lugia! Thank Arceus that you have arrived!”

            Reshiram’s face showed a degree of concern as a Vulpix and a Ninetales jumped off of Lugia’s back and took up positions next to the two recon squads. Lugia then called down to Reshiram, “Lady Reshiram, you are the Herald, I take it. I have only just arrived, but I have two questions for you… One: why are you doing all of this? Two: I know that your army faced my brother, Ho-oh’s army in combat. What happened to him?”

            Reshiram, as Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres took up their positions around their lady, sighed deeply, she then slowly said, “I cannot lie to you, I have committed enough severe sins as it is. As for your first question, you remember a Pokémon named Salazar and his cult, do you not?”

            Lugia quickly replied, “Yes, I killed him myself. What does that have to do with anything?”

            Reshiram then continued, “It was learning, after the world was spared utter destruction, the true extant of corrupt Pokémon cooperating with Anarchos, that I decided that the world cannot continue to exist in its current state. I intend to force moral perfection on this world, whether it wants it or not. Whatever terrible things I do and whatever terrible things my followers do, before we reach utopia, are worth it! As for your brother…I led my army against his army on the plains of the Western Continent. Despite heavy losses, we defeated his forces, and him. I offered him the chance to join me and help create a perfect, sinless, world. However, he refused to help me, believing me to be insane. Lugia… I could not let him live if he was to get in the way of the end of sin. I killed him with my Ancient Power attack. I am truly sorry, but a perfect world will be worth it!”   

            The resistance Pokémon, including the new arrivals all looked at Lugia as Protectorate reinforcements started to come out of the central compound.

            Lugia let out a scream of rage and anguish and then shouted at Reshiram, “You are insane! And you will die for your crimes! Arceus damn you!”

            Lugia immediately fired her Aeroblast attack into Reshiram’s head. Reshiram recoiled back and then Zapdos and Raikou rushed forward to deliver Discharge attacks. Suicune hit Latias with an Aurora Beam and Latios, Reshiram and a number of the Sinless took a Powder Snow from Articuno.

            Arya, Moltres and Miranda then turned to the Sinless and Aspiring advancing on them from behind and unleashed a barrage of fire-based attacks. The combination of blasts fainted a number of the Protectorate’s soldiers.

            As the seven recon squad Pokémon rushed in to help clear the Sinless from the gate, Entei shouted to Lugia, “We need to evacuate this castle and reach our comrades who are heading west.”

            Reshiram then blasted Entei with a Dragon Breath and then shouted to her two servants, “They will leave us this fortress. We cannot afford to die here. Let our soldiers distract them! We will go regroup with our forces to the immediate south. Then, they will march into this castle unopposed.”

            Latios, Latias and Reshiram all took off into the air, and began to flee south. Lugia blasted the retreating Reshiram with a second Aeroblast and then shouted, “They will be back with more Pokémon. Take out the enemies in our way and the ones who are foolish enough to pursue us…. Reshiram, you may survive this night, but you will be punished for what you have done!”

            As Latias and Latios went ahead, Reshiram turned back to Lugia and simply replied, “I know, but sin will die in the process.” She then rocketed away at full speed.

            With the help of the new arrivals, the Sinless were cleared out of the immediate area. They still saw more waves incoming. Suicune shouted, “Now is our chance, we will retreat to the west. I assume that we are heading to the western caves?”

            Arya looked around and then said, to Lugia, “This is not how I imagined this starting off. We should fall back, if they really want this position, they will kill us all to get access to it! We will help you to get your revenge, Lady Lugia!”

            Lugia then nodded and then ordered, “We are all heading for the western caves! Entei, Raikou, Suicune lead the land-bound Pokémon to the hidden entrances. I will lead my three servants to the coastal entrances. Retreat, everyone, I do not want to risk us being overrun if we stay here any longer!”

            Lugia led Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres up into the night sky. Then, Entei shouted to the Pokémon left on land, “Full retreat, I will lead you to the cave entrances. We can only hope that the others will make it their safely before us.”

            Sven was, now that Reshiram had fled, only thinking of Daphne’s safety, then, both recon squads, Arya and Miranda followed Entei, Raikou and Suicune out of the fortress.

            What remained of the Western Resistance fled down the mountain’s western side through the rest of the night. They eventually had to make a camp and rest, with watches being taken, for most of the next day. Then, they traveled by night for what felt like five hours. They eventually reached a series of boulders, where Entei stopped the procession.

            Entei stepped forward, with Raikou and Suicune close behind him; he then, as the nine Pokémon behind him watched, channeled his innate energy in to the largest boulder. The boulder moved across the ground and then revealed a hole in the ground. Suicune said, “I will make sure that the entrance is sealed once we are in. Let’s see if anyone else got here.”

            Sven then asked, “What do you think happened to the other evacuees? There were a good number of them and we are already low on fighters.”

            Raikou responded, as they all entered the cave network, “If the Lady Lugia arrived here earlier, along with her new servants, they may have already let the other evacuees inside. Only Legendary Pokémon have the power to slide that stone in a way that leaves no tracks. Reshiram does not know of it, to our knowledge.”           

            The twelve Pokémon walked thought the caves, which were lit by some luminescent fungi, until they found a large room and Sven heard a familiar female voice saying, “Oh good, you all made it here, as well. Some flying Pokémon let us in. They said they worked for the Lady Lugia.”

            Sven grinned when he saw that the voice had, indeed, come from Daphne.


	15. Under New Management

The surviving members of the Western Resistance had just managed to regroup in a large cavern that was a part of a massive network of caves underneath the western edge of the island. Sven was immensely relieved to see Daphne alive and physically unharmed. He saw that there were a few small piles of supplies behind Daphne, and the other evacuees. Daphne, noticing that some of the newly arrived Pokémon were looking at the supplies, said, “We salvaged what we could and then tried to burn the rest, so that the Protectorate could not use too much of our stores. It seemed like we would be alone here if not for the Lady Lugia and her allies having arrived in the nick of time.”

            Entei nodded his agreement and then asked Daphne, “Where is she, Lugia I mean, now? I need to speak with her immediately.”

            Daphne replied, “She and her three servants are in a part of the cave network, which opens out to the sea. It is not far from here. You should be able to easily find it.”

            Entei then told Raikou and Suicune to follow him. The three of them briskly walked past the others and then into a nearby passage, which led farther to the west.

            As she was about to follow him, Samara was told by Raikou to stay with the others.

            Joel then pointed out, “We will need to find some materials to make beds with soon. Now that I think about it… we will need to see if we can assign ‘rooms’ to everyone.”

            Amber then added, “I will miss the old castle. I hope we can find out why the Protectorate wanted control of that place? Anyway, we should all split up and try to each claim new ‘rooms’ down here.”

            Sven then suggested, “Why don’t all of you do that… I will stay here and make sure that our remaining supplies are sorted properly.”

            Daphne sighed and then nodded at Sven, she then said, “You all go and find places to rest. We will take care of the remaining work here.”

            The other Pokémon fanned out and began exploring the cave networks’ nearby passages in pairs to find and claim where they would sleep.

            While that was happening, Sven walked up to Daphne. She then said, “I expect you to help me sort the last few items we were able to spare. Anyways, I also assume that you wanted to talk about what you said after our last conversation.”

            Sven nodded and then responded, “Daphne, I realize how hard it would be for someone like you to love someone like me… However, if there is anything you ever need that I can supply, please do not hesitate to let me know. As much as we had an extremely rough start, I want to be there for you whenever you need someone.”

            Daphne nodded, taking in what Sven had said, she then replied, “I am not going to simply jump into your arms and kiss you. Part of my reluctance to start my first romantic relationship right here and now comes from your being the sort of creature that you are. However, a lot of my reluctance is also from the precarious position that the resistance is in right now. I do not want to enter a major new relationship when our organization has been forced from its base. I am not even sure how we can effectively oppose our enemies now. I will say this, however…it is not a permanent impossibility… you and I being together.”

            Sven nodded and then finished, “Well, I am happy that you would even consider being with me. Anyway, let’s do our duty and sort these items now. Oh yes, you should know that the Herald is actually a Legendary Pokémon named Reshiram. She confessed to the Lady Lugia, before escaping to let her soldiers deal with us, that she had personally killed the Lord Ho-oh.”

            Daphne looked shocked and then, as she tried to get to work, replied, “I have not heard much about a Pokémon named Reshiram. However, I know that she and another Pokémon named Zekrom were once part of the same colossal dragon Pokémon. The dragon was the ancient guardian of the Western Continent before they split into multiple, weaker, Legendary Pokémon. The third part, Kyurem was slain in a battle that the Lady Lugia was involved with around a century ago.”

            As they both got to work, Sven mentioned, “I wonder where this Zekrom is now? I wonder if he is even still alive. If Reshiram was willing to kill Ho-oh, than maybe she did away with him as well?”

            Daphne merely shrugged her shoulders and then kept working. Sven continued to help her until they saw all three of the Legendary Beasts and Lugia entering the chamber. Lugia’s three servants walked in through other passages soon after. Lugia then instructed Daphne and Sven, “Please gather the others. We have an announcement to make. Every resistance member we can marshal should be present for this.”

            Daphne simply replied, “Alright, we will go off and try to find the others. They have all been looking for areas of the caves to claim for themselves.”

            Daphne and Sven split up and went off to go locate their comrades. It took them about an hour to find everyone and bring them all back to the central chamber.

            When they all met up in the central chamber, Lugia was standing alongside her three servants and the three Legendary Beasts. She saw that the only other surviving resistance members in the caves included: the two recon squads, Arya, Miranda, the two surviving members of the assault squad, Daphne and three other Pokémon. In all, including the seven Legendaries, there were only twenty-two Pokémon present in the cave network.

            Lugia began her speech, saying, “Hello everyone, I know that most of you do not know me personally, even if most of you know who I am. Entei, has decided that I ‘outrank’ him as the sister of the late Lord Ho-oh. Therefore, he made the decision to officially transfer the position of Commander of the Western Resistance over to me. As of now, I am the highest-ranking officer of this organization. Now, Entei, Raikou and Suicune have all assured me that they are as devoted to the idea of avenging Lord Ho-oh’s death as I am. So, they will remain in the organization as sub-commanders. I will work out specific roles for them later, if that proves to be necessary. For now, Entei will stay in this cave system to manage things here, while Raikou and Suicune will be in charge of finding new recruits for us. We seem to be in desperate need of more fighters. As for my three servants, Zapdos is my consort and will be advising me on a personal level. Aritcuno will be made the new spymaster of the Western Resistance. The important task of reaching our other branches will be delegated to her, with possible help from Raikou and Suicune. Moltres will be in charge of leading the remnants of the assault squad on whatever missions they receive in the future….”

            Miranda then interrupted Lugia by saying, “Lady Lugia, what do you want me and my mother to do? I want to help in anyway that I can. Your brother needs to be avenged and we need to stop whatever Reshiram is planning!”

            As Arya was about to open her mouth, Lugia continued, “Miranda, you seem eager to get out a help us fight. I will, with your mother’s permission, assign you to Recon Squad #2. They apparently always needed a fourth member. As for you, Arya, I know what you did for a living for decades in Semberta Town and later Semberta City. I would like to take you on as our tactical advisor. Since you are quite experienced in combat, you would presumably be helping us to fight the Protectorate directly in some way, as well as being our tactical advisor.”

            Arya thought things over for a moment, while Miranda looked up at her. She then slowly said, “If I take this job, then it will keep my daughter safer in the field. I know that Miranda will not listen to me if I try to convince her to stay out of the fighting. I raised her to stand up for what she believes is right. As for why I will help you all…there is the fact that I am trapped here now, along with all of you. However, there is also the fact that Reshiram is clearly insane and has the resources to inflict her madness upon the world. I do not claim to know how she plans to do that. But, she most certainly needs to be stopped. ‘Perfection’ was never what I wanted…especially if there are to be no second chances for those who do wrong.”

            Miranda smiled and nodded up at her mother, very pleased with her decision. Then, Lugia continued, “Well, I guess that Miranda will indeed fill out Recon Squad #2 as their fourth member. Now, as for the rest of us, I am, as I said before, entrusting Articuno, along with Raikou and Suicune, with reaching out to the Western Resistance’s other cells. We will need to tell them where we are based now as soon as possible. From there, we will work on recruiting new members, in part through our other cells. We will start to plan new missions to attack and sabotage the Protectorate as soon as we can get a fuller picture of our situation. Entei tells me that he was able to burn the records in the mountain fortress’s archives that could not be taken here. That way, the Protectorate should not be able to confirm the locations of our other cells, even after they have taken the castle. Also, we are fortunate to have had both of our recon squads survive the battle fully intact. Anyway, we will be hunkering down here for now. However, we will also be working to actively combat and hinder Reshiram’s efforts within the month. Are you all with me?”

            All of the present members of the Western Resistance cheered right after Lugia finished her speech. Then, Entei said, “We should all get some rest now. We will be using some hidden watching posts to see if any Pokémon approach the boulder field above. So, we will have a couple of us keeping watch every night. However, most of us should be able to get some well-earned rest. You are all dismissed for now. Find places to sleep, if you have not done so yet.”

            The gathered resistance Pokémon quickly scattered, eager to get some rest. Sven found a “room” nearby the new “rooms” of his squad-mates. He then quickly fell asleep, as it was technically night above the caves. He still missed his old room in the attic of the mountain fortress.

            Over the next week, the members of the Western Resistance focused on building up some primitive structures, such as support beams and doors, within their new headquarters. A small number of them were more focused on contacting their smaller cells and informing them about the new location of the resistance’s headquarters. Once messages from most of the cells, which included reports on recent Protectorate military movements, were received, Lugia announced that she, along with Arya, was going to look for ways to strike out at the Protectorate.

            Another week passed, during which the final few cells reported in to the new headquarters, via letters. One morning, Entei scrambled the Pokémon in the base, saying that there was a group of nine unknown Pokémon standing in the field of boulders.

            When Sven and his squad reached a watching post, and looked outside at the Pokémon standing expectantly among the boulders, Samara called out to the others, “We are not under attack! I remember these Pokémon as being the members of the resistance cell that we helped take out a Protectorate caravan!”

            Maurice then asked, “I wonder why they are here, though. I do not see their leader, Rachel, with them.”

            Entei was able to slide the boulder over to reveal the entrance of the cave system. The nine Pokémon saw him and then quickly entered the cave network before the boulder was slid back over the entrance.

            Amber asked the newly arrived Pokémon, as they were all on the way to the central chamber, “Why are you all here? Also, where is Rachel?”

            A Marowak, who seemed to be leading the group, looked over to Amber and responded, “We were forced out of our own cave network by the Protectorate. As for Rachel… she heroically held off the Sinless to let all of us escape safely. She, along with the Mightyena whom you all had captured, is in the clutches of the Protectorate now.”

            The members of Recon Squad #1 all gulped, realizing the danger that Rachel was certainly in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again readers, with this update I am happy to report that not only has my first story reached over 400 hits, but also that I have begun work on my "spiritual successor" PMD story in earnest. Another thing to note is that this story is now half-way posted. So, thank you all for reading, and where applicable leaving kudos, once again.


	16. A New Operation

The members of Recon Squad #1 led their fellow resistance fighters through the cavern’s “hallways” until they reached the central cavern. Once they arrived, Samara went to go look for Raikou, who she assumed would be able to get Lugia’s attention.

            It was not long until Lugia, Zapdos, and the three Legendary Beasts had entered the central chamber, along with a returning Samara and Recon Squad #2. Lugia looked down at the newly arrived resistance fighters and then looked to their de facto leader, the male Marowak who had been leading them. Lugia first asked him, “Do you have a name? If so, then please state it. Also, please state your rank, if you have one of note.”

            The Marowak then responded, “My Lady, my name is Thomas. I was the second in command of the desert plains branch of the Western Resistance. I obtained that position soon after evolving into my current form.”

            Lugia simply nodded and then asked him, “Thomas, I have been told that you and your subordinates were forced from your base of operations by the Protectorate. I have also been informed that the enemy took your commander, a Raichu named Rachel, away during their raid. Is that correct?”  

            Thomas then responded, “Ma’am, Rachel bravely volunteered to hold off the enemy while we found an escape passage that the Protectorate’s raiders had not yet located. The last I saw, the Protectorate was not only taking our own prisoner into their custody, but they had also knocked Rachel out and were binding her with inhibitor handcuffs. Unless they have killed her, she is their prisoner now.”

            Lugia then asked, “Did Rachel know of the location of our new headquarters? Also, did she dispose of any and all documents that could have revealed the location of other cells, or of this base?”

            Thomas said, “We quickly burned any valuable documents that we could not escape with. That should not be an issue. However, Rachel definitely knew about the resistance headquarters’ move to this cave network. Knowing her, she will not give up that information easily. Any torture they administer to her will hopefully not be greater than the shame that she would feel from betraying our cause… Lady Lugia, Rachel is both a good Pokémon and a good leader. I am personally asking you, even begging you, to find some way to rescue her from our enemies. I am immensely disturbed by the mere thought of what they might be doing to her! To be clear, I have no romantic feelings for her…but I still greatly respect her as both a friend and a leader.”       

            Lugia nodded, she then replied, “As much as I hate the idea of any truly good Pokémon in Reshiram’s clutches… the real reason why we must free her is that she may give away our location under torture. I will order Articuno to immediately tell all of our agents to begin trying to locate where she may be being held, if she still lives. I have actually learned, from some of our spies, that the Protectorate did capture around five Pokémon during their raid on the central mountain. I will add trying to locate her to their list of objectives, along with learning where the other captives were taken.”

            Thomas looked extremely relieved that Lugia was committed to rescuing Rachel. Then Joel spoke up, he said, “I might have a useful piece of information for just this situation. I would have said it far sooner had I known that you were trying to find other Pokémon that the Protectorate had captured. Anyway, when I was undercover as a member of the Aspiring, the Protectorate’s volunteer auxiliary force, I learned that there is an ancient human tower on the northern coast of the Western Continent. The Protectorate has turned it into a prison for their captives who they do not see a reason to immediately execute. I think that that tower is a likely spot for our comrades to be imprisoned in.”

            Lugia looked down at Joel and smiled at him, saying, “That could be immensely helpful. I will order my servants to scout the northern coast, while avoiding any major enemy presences, hopefully they can find the tower soon. Also, I will still inform our spies about Rachel so that they can try to help locate her. We will only attempt to assault the tower, in the near future, if we believe resistance members are being held captive there.”

            As Lugia was turning to leave, Joel added, “Also, I heard rumors that some kind of powerful Pokémon only know as the ‘Commandant’ or the ‘Head of Interrogation’ was in command of the tower prison. We should be careful, if we do mount an assault on the tower.”

            Lugia then nodded and replied, “I am more concerned, should we attempt this operation, with transporting enough of us across the oceanic channel and then evacuating the prisoners successfully. We will not want to leave anyone whom we are trying to rescue behind.”

            Joel and the others nodded. Then, Lugia went back into her command center to have messages sent to the Western Resistance’s spies.

            A couple of days later, Lugia called another meeting in the central chamber. Every Legendary Pokémon in the resistance, expect for Raikou, who was on a courier mission, was in attendance. Also, present were both Recon Squads, Thomas and Arya. Entei shouted at the assembled Pokémon to all be quiet and then Lugia stepped forward to speak. She began, “We have recently received some new information that has prompted me to plan a new mission for us. As for what we have learned, for one, Zapdos has located the coastal tower, which Joel previously mentioned, and confirmed the presence of a Protectorate contingent stationed there. We also have received news, from our spies on the southern coast of this island and the northern coast of the Western Continent, that not only was Rachel taken to an occupied port, but that she was taken to the tower prison, from there, by a transport barge. Also, we now have more evidence from our agents to support the theory that our comrades who were captured during the assault on the central mountain were taken there as well. With all of this taken into account, we have decided to attack the prison, attempt to free our comrades and then escape the area quickly.”

            Amber then asked, “How are we to get across the channel and then back? We will need to transport at least a few Pokémon who can infiltrate the building itself. Also, we will need a way to take any of the prisoners whom we will have rescued back to this island.”

            Suicune then stepped forward to answer Amber’s question, she said, “The Protectorate’s blockade does not cover the channel itself. Lady Lugia and her three servants will carry the eight recon squad Pokémon, as well as Thomas and Arya, across the channel. I will run across the water along below them. Once we arrive at the prison, I will secure at least one of the enemy barges that Zapdos has seen docked at the base of the tower. The four airborne Pokémon will then deploy our weaker Pokémon into the prison from an upper level. As our flyers focus on eliminating as many of the hostile guards as possible, the ten Pokémon, who we will have airlifted in, will try and free as many prisoners as possible. Once we have cleared out as the guards as best as we can, we will evacuate the liberated prisoners using the barge, or two barges, that I will have secured. Our flyers will help to escort the barge(s) back to the island, where they will be taken into a sea cave that links with this network. We will not destroy the barges because they could prove immensely useful later.”

            Lugia then said, “Thank you, Suicune. We will set out tomorrow. Entei will be in charge of holding down the fort here. Raikou is out delivering a message to our agents, telling them that they are to do what they can to learn how and where the Protectorate is creating the Sinless. I would love to be able to destroy their facility in order to stop Reshiram from having a potentially limitless army at her disposal. Anyway, get a good night’s rest, everyone. We will all need it for tomorrow’s mission.”

            As the various Pokémon were all heading to get some rest, Sven quietly asked Samara, “Hey, I was just wondering… does our new leader know that I am a rogue Sinless? If she does not, then I feel as though I should tell her. That way, it does not come out at an inopportune time.”

            Samara then replied, “Honestly, I do not think that she is aware, unless someone told her when I was not present. Anyway, I am going to go consult with Joel about our strategy for the next mission.”

            Sven then mentioned, as Samara was turning to leave, “You have been spending a lot of time around the other recon squad lately. Normally, only Amber does that because she is so close to Joel.”

            Samara then sighed and turned back to Sven, she then said, “Do not go around blabbing this to anyone outside of our squad, but I find Joel’s new recruit Miranda to be very attractive. I may be exaggerating, but I feel like I have seen her looking at me a few times as well.”

            Sven, remembering what Samara had said to him soon after he joined Recon Squad #1, smiled and then said, “Well, good luck with that. Maybe you will have more luck with Miranda than I have been having with Daphne.”

            Samara, who, along with Amber and Maurice, had been informed of Sven’s feelings for Daphne recently, said, “Well, I hope that you have good luck with her as well.”

            Samara then left to go find Joel and his squad. As Sven was going to go see where Daphne, who still held the rank of quartermaster and was now the only one the Western Resistance had left, was, he saw that Maurice had not left the central chamber and seemed to be deep in thought.

            Sven decided that he would probably have time to see Daphne later. He hopped over to Maurice, who seemed to notice his presence. Maurice looked over at Sven and then said, “I have something that I have wanted to get off of my metaphorical chest since we survived the battle at the mountain fortress…”        

            Sven then cocked his head at Maurice and asked, “What is it? Whatever it is, it seems to be weighing on you quite heavily.”

            Maurice then told Sven, “I hope that you remember when I said that I was kept out of the army that the late Lord Ho-oh brought to the Western Continent to try and defeat the Protectorate in battle. I felt guilty that I had survived when so many others had supposedly been lost. Now that we know for sure that Lord Ho-oh’s army was destroyed and that Reshiram murdered him, my guilt has both resurfaced and increased. Why did I, and I guess many of the others here, survive while so many were lost fighting against the Protectorate on the mainland?”

            Sven nodded, thinking about what Maurice had said. He then took a moment to think it over. He finally decided to say, “Maurice, the best way that I think we can look at what happened is that you and the others who have survived need to not let Ho-oh’s sacrifice be in vain. We need to give all that we have got in order to stop Reshiram and her corrupt society. We need to take advantage of our being here and be happy in the fact that we are still alive in the first place, given our circumstances. We cannot let what we have lost, or the randomness of our survival stop us from doing the work that needs to be done!”

            At that point Maurice looked Sven in the eyes and said, “I think I know what you mean. I really cannot let my own survivor’s guilt stop me, or any of us, from doing our jobs! What you have said will probably not dispel my guilt altogether, but it certainly helps. I am going to go make sure that I am all ready for the mission that will launch tomorrow. See you later.”

            Maurice then hopped off to prepare himself for the mission to come. Sven then went off to find Daphne and see if he could help her with her job. She often needed help, seeing as though she was now the Western Resistance’s only remaining Headquarters Quartermaster.

            That night, the Resistance Members all slept as soundly as they could. The Pokémon stationed on watch duty that night were chosen from the resistance members who were not going on the rescue mission.

            The next morning, the Pokémon who had been assigned to the rescue mission gathered in a part of the cave network, which overlooked the ocean. The entirety of Recon Squad #1 climbed onto Lugia. Then, Joel and Thomas boarded Zapdos, Miles carried Chloe onto Articuno and Arya and Miranda boarded Moltres. Suicune then leaped out of the cave and landed, without injury, on the water. She then called out, “Hopefully, I will arrive a bit before you all do and begin clearing out the docks.”

            Suicune then took off across the water and Lugia allowed Zapdos to take off first. Entei then shouted, “Good luck all of you, I hope to see you all back here safely within the next three or four days!” Then, Lugia, Articuno and Moltres took off after Zapdos.

            The flight of four Pokémon, with their ten passengers on board, followed Suicune as she sped at blinding speed across the water. As the sun rose above the ocean channel, they sent off to rescue their imprisoned allies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I have to say this time is that this story is now more than half-way posted. Expect my "mega-prequel" story, Ruination to begin posting after this story is fully posted.


	17. Liberation at the Tower

It was early in the morning of their second day of traveling when the flight of Legendary Pokémon, their passengers and Suicune came within view of the prison tower. The Protectorate installation was a, heavily restored, concrete building with a balcony jutting out from one of its upper floors and a dock area with two barges at its base. The terrain directly behind the tower was filled with rocks and boulders. Only one thin road could be seen as a way to effectively access the structure from the land.

            Suicune shouted up to her airborne allies, “I will move in and try to eliminate as many guards near the barges as I can. Cover me if I appear to be getting overwhelmed.”

            Lugia nodded at Suicune and then replied, “Understood, try and claim both of the barges for us. We may need, and certainly could use, both of them. We will see if we can drop our passengers off on that balcony.”

            As soon as Lugia finished talking, Suicune was immediately propelled forward towards the docks by a massive gust of wind. She quickly rushed on to the docks and began engaging a unit of surprised Protectorate Pokémon.

            After watching Suicune begin her part of the plan, Lugia and her three servants flew in close to the balcony. They landed briefly, only staying on the large concrete balcony for long enough to drop off their ten passengers. Lugia then shouted down, “We will do our best to both help Suicune and take down any enemy guards who show themselves. Articuno, go help Suicune so she has air cover!”

            As soon as Articuno nodded and began flying downwards to cover Suicune a number of red lights began flashing on the tower’s roof. As soon as the red lights stopped flashing, a pair of four-barreled devices on swiveling bases rose up from concealment and took their positions on the roof.

            As the two machines took aim, Lugia shouted, “They have more human technology than I imagined! Those are Surface to Air Missile launchers! Evasive action!”

            The two SAM turrets opened fire on the three airborne Pokémon still above the balcony. As the barrage of missiles flew at the three Legendaries each locked on to one of them, Zapdos sent out a Discharge, the massive pulse of Electricity destroyed the first barrage of missiles. The SAM turrets then were lowered back into the tower. Lugia shouted, “Wait for them to reload then move in and destroy them before they can fire again!”     

            After watching the battle above them, the Pokémon on the balcony saw the door leading inside open, four Sinless Omanyte and four Sinless Corsola rushed out from the door to confront the invaders. Then, a flight of four Sinless Skarmory flew out from another hole, which had opened and then quickly closed on the roof of the tower. They avoided the three Legendary Pokémon and then dived for the intruders on the balcony.

            As his allies mostly engaged the enemies on the balcony, Sven stayed back and deployed a Water Pulse to injure as many of his foes as he could. Then, seeing the Skarmory closing in on them, Arya breathed a large cone of fire at the airborne Sinless, using Inferno. Three of the Skarmory fainted from the attack and the final one, who had not been hit by the blast, survived an Ember from Miranda.

            Thomas, Chloe and Maurice stayed back to attack from a distance, while Samara, Miles, Joel, and Amber rushed in to engage the Sinless on the balcony. Amber dropped a Corsola with a Mega Drain; while Samara wounded three of her foes with a well-aimed Thunderbolt.

            Then, as the last hostile Skarmory was engaging Arya and Miranda, the SAM turrets popped back up onto the roof of the tower. Lugia fired an Aeroblast into one of them, causing it to explode. The other was destroyed by the combined efforts of Moltres, who used Flamethrower and Zapdos, who used Thundershock.

            With the two SAM turrets destroyed, the three Legendary Pokémon turned their attention to circling the tower and attacking any guards that they could detect through the windows. Lugia shouted, “Make sure that anyone you attack is wearing a Protectorate sash! This place is a prison, after all.”

            The ten Pokémon on the balcony managed to dispatch the unit of guards that had been sent out to deal with them in short order. They then advanced into the prison tower, going through the balcony door. After finding themselves in a hallway, which had multiple staircases heading downwards at the opposite end of it, Arya ordered, “Alright, we will split up into two groups and each take a staircase. I will go with Recon Squad #2 and take the right staircase, while Thomas will follow Recon Squad #1 and take the left staircase.”

            Samara then, as they all split up into their two groups, said, “We will rescue whomever we can and then head for the docks. Hopefully, we will meet up with Suicune down there.”

            Arya and the others all nodded and then, they all dashed down the staircases. Recon Squad #1, with Thomas right behind them ran down their staircase. They explored the next three floors going down, clearing out the small number of surviving guards on their way. The prison tower was divided into two cellblocks per floor, with a solid wall in behind the two blocks. Each cell the group came across only had a small slit for looking inside and out, so they could not easily check inside of them. They saw some prisoners inside of some of the cells, but not in most of them. None of the captives who they had yet found appeared to be members of the Western Resistance. Thomas insisted that they find Rachel and then worry about trying to free the other prisoners. They also were somewhat unsure of freeing prisoners who could be dangerous criminals.

            Eventually, they reached the third floor of the building, having started on the seventh and gone down. There, they found the area empty of guards. Thomas suggested, “They might have gone off to help defend the docks. Anyway, let’s see if Rachel is down here. We are running out of floors to check!”

            The group checked in seven of the eight cells in the block. Samara said, “Ok, we have found the five prisoners taken from the mountain fortress raid, let’s bust them out!”

A male Snivy prisoner, who realized what was going on shouted, “Thank Arceus you all came…. The Protectorate…they have this awful Pokémon, who was overseeing our interrogation. He was not far off when we heard the sounds of battle nearby. Last time I checked he was interrogating the captured branch leader. I think he has the keys to the cell doors and our restraints.”

            Sven peered into the eighth cell and shouted to his comrades, “I see Rachel in this cell, she is wearing inhibitor manacles. She also seems to be asleep and really tossing and turning….”

            Sven saw that the sleeping Rachel appeared to be in some sort of agony. Then her eyes opened. They were heavily bloodshot. She then saw Sven and shouted, “He is coming for you. This Pokémon, he was keeping me in a state of forced sleep and constant nightmares. You will have to stop him yourselves, he has the keys!”

            The sound of footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. A pair of Sinless Meowth walked to the top of the staircase and then a third Pokémon appeared in between them. His skin was jet black with a red jaw-like structure around his neck. A single blue eye looked over the resistance members from below a large mass of white hair. Recon Squad #1, with Thomas beside them, took up their battle formation as the newly arrived Pokémon spoke. He said, “Your assault has been quick and effective. I will be forced to take as many prisoners as I can and retreat. Lady Reshiram will not be pleased with this. I intend to deal with you and then take miss Rachel here to our headquarters where I can keep up my ‘work’ with her in peace.”

            Thomas then shouted, “Whatever you have been doing to Rachel, it ends here! You have no regard for morality if you believe you can get away with this cold-blooded torture!”

            The Pokémon then glared at Thomas and responded, “Perhaps an introduction is in order. I am Darkrai, the incarnation of nightmares. I became a follower of the Herald Reshiram in order to try to redeem my existence. By that, I mean using my unpleasant talents to help the cause of perfecting our morally flawed kind. You will never stop the Lady Reshiram! Guards, help me to dispose of theses intruders! Then, we will take Rachel and whoever else we can bring back to our base of operations.”

            Rachel, who had overheard the conversation, shouted at Darkrai, “I would rather die than continue to be in your clutches!”

            Darkrai simply gave a small chuckle as Recon Squad #1, along with Thomas prepared for combat. Sven was certainly afraid; he had never really faced a Legendary Pokémon in combat before.

            As his Meowth rushed forward, Darkrai floated toward his targets and then emitted a massive blast of ghostly energy using Ominous Wind.

            Sven and his allies were all injured by the blast. However, they were not about to let their enemy escape with Rachel in his custody. Sven blasted all of the enemies with a Water Pulse. Then, Thomas rushed in to engage one Meowth, while Samara moved in and hit the other Meowth and Darkrai with a Thunderbolt, dropping the Meowth. Maurice sniped Darkrai with a Rock Throw and then, Amber ran in and used Mega Drain on him.

            As the remaining Meowth and Thomas dueled each other, Darkrai used Hypnosis on Amber, she fell asleep and began to toss and turn in agony.

            Sven glared at Darkrai and then angled a second Water Pulse so that only Darkrai and his remaining minion were hit. The Sinless Meowth dropped, allowing Thomas to begin attacking Darkrai as well.        

            Samara then used a Spark on Darkrai and Maurice used a second Rock Throw. The combination of attacks staggered Darkrai. With no allies left, he used a second Hypnosis move on Samara to cover his escape. As Samara fell asleep, he said, “You have forced me to retreat. Enjoy your victory while you can, for the Protectorate will triumph in the end!”

            Darkrai then sped away from the resistance Pokémon at full speed. Sven and Maurice went to go attend to Amber and Samara. It was not long until they both awoke, even though their nightmares had literally drained some of their life energy away.

            Then, Arya and Recon Squad #2 appeared from a nearby door. Joel had evolved from Bagon to Shelgon and Chloe had evolved from Remoraid to Octillery. As the new arrivals were being briefed on the encounter that had just occurred, Samara began to glow. She evolved from Luxio to Luxray.

            Arya said, “The Guards appear to be in full retreat. We should free all the prisoners using what keys we can find and then get ourselves to the barges. That Pokémon, Darkrai, seemed to have been the commandant of this facility.”

            The ten resistance Pokémon after being able to confirm with the resistance captives that the other captives in the tower were all political prisoners, as opposed to genuine criminals. They then found some spare sets of keys on the first floor and went about freeing all seventeen captives from their prison cells. Most of the prisoners seemed exhausted from their ordeals. It appeared that Darkrai, using his nightmare inducing abilities, had tortured most of them.

            Rachel and Thomas embraced when she was let out of her cell and unchained. Rachel then told her rescuers, “I did my best to not give out hope that you all would come for us. I refused to tell them anything other than my name and rank. Now, let’s get out of here!”

            The total of twenty-seven Pokémon busted through the front door of the prison tower. Once there, they saw that Suicune and the four airborne Legendary Pokémon had defeated the remaining guards at the docks. The freed prisoners and their rescuers were all able to board the barges and then set off for the island.

            As Suicune leapt back onto the water and began to run out in front of the barges, Lugia shouted, “We will all cover you from the air. If any enemy squads pursue us, then we will have to eliminate them all before they can see where we are now based. Now, let me take care of the tower….”

            Lugia ordered Articuno to use her ice-based attacks on the tower’s foundations to make it more brittle. Then, Lugia started bombarding the affected areas with Aeroblast and Ancient Power attacks. Eventually, the tower lost a significant part of its foundation and began to topple. After the barges were already a decent distance away, the tower collapsed into the sea.

            The resistance Pokémon and the liberated prisoners all cheered as the tower collapsed. Then, they all turned to the north as they began the journey back to the island.

            A couple days later, the resistance force made it back to the island’s coast and managed to dock the pair of barges in the sea cave, while Lugia and her three servants flew into the same place they had flown out of a few days prior. When they all returned to the cave network, preparations were made to house the new and returning members of the resistance. Then, Entei, with Raikou, who had returned from his courier mission while the rescue mission had been taking place, by his side went up to Lugia and told her, “My Lady, a message has come in for you. You might find it to be quite interesting.”


	18. An intriguing Letter

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            Located in the middle of a forest in the eastern half of the Western Continent, the Fortress of Truth was a massive building constructed almost entirely out of white stone. It possessed multiple spear-shaped spires, which all extended high into the sky above. A relatively flat dome roofed the central building of the fortress. The fortress’s central spire was extending up from the dome’s center. Inside the dome, the Legendary Dragon Reshiram, also known as the Herald of the Protectorate was examining a large map, which depicted the entire Western Continent and the island off of its northern coast.

            The double doors to the throne room, which were guarded by a pair of Sinless Charizard, flew open and a pink and yellow Pokémon levitated inside. She was saluted by both of the guards as she advanced on Reshiram. Reshiram then turned to the newly arrived Pokémon and asked her, “Cresselia, what news do you have for me?”

            Cresselia bowed to her leader and then replied, “My Herald, we appear to have suffered a minor setback. …Darkrai has just reported in… he says that the Western Resistance attacked our prison tower on the northern coast. They rescued the captives we were holding there before any of them could be forced to reveal the location of the resistance’s new base of operations. As for the tower, itself, it seems to have been toppled into the sea by the resistance after they evacuated it fully.”

            Reshiram nodded in response, she then said, “The Western Resistance still actively resists our plans. After all that we have done, I do not fully blame them. After all, they still do not know for sure how we intend to achieve our goal.”

            Cresselia then asked Reshiram, “My Lady, how shall we respond to the latest resistance assault?”

            Reshiram quickly replied, “Not directly, not while we still do not know where they are operating out of. However, I do have some critical new orders for you. Tell Latias, Latios and Darkrai that they are to begin the transportation of the supplies we have been arranging to the ruins of the old mountain fortress. Construction at the mountain’s peak is to begin as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more chance of actually being defeated we have. You know as well as I do that our enemies will no longer matter once the construction is finished.”

            Cresselia then nodded and, before leaving the throne room, asked Reshiram, “What am I to do? After I give out your orders, that is.”

            Reshiram told Cresselia, “You are to lead our armies on this continent towards the western regions. We want to keep up the pressure on Zekrom and his forces. I fear for what might happen if the two factions opposed to us discover the other’s existence.”

            Cresselia then nodded again and quickly floated out of the throne room. Reshiram then looked back at the map and thought, “My oldest foe, you and your deranged worldview will not stop my plans. And for that matter, neither will Lugia and her band!”

\---

            Back in the cave network that had become the headquarters for the Western Resistance, Lugia was talking with Raikou and Entei. From what Sven could tell, it was about a letter, which had just come in. Amber was talking with Joel, who mentioned, “It is going to be a lot harder for me to manipulate objects now that I have evolved. However, this protective shell is nice and cozy, I must admit.”

            Amber then replied, “Chloe seems ecstatic to have evolved, mainly because she can move more easily across land on her own power now. As for you, you should keep up your work, so that you can become a Salamence soon. If I evolve into Sceptile, we should both be able to Mega-Evolve!”

            Joel nodded his whole body, as Samara seemed to be gazing into a nearby cave wall. Miranda then walked up to her and asked, “Samara, what are you doing?”

            Samara smiled at Miranda and then replied, “Practicing my newest talent. Now that I am a Luxray, I can see through walls if I desire. Some call it X-ray vision. I can see it coming really in handy for seeing enemy ambushes. However, I have to really focus for it to work.”

            Miranda nodded back at Samara as Maurice landed next to Sven. Sven told Maurice, “I just realized that I have not yet informed Lady Lugia that I was a Sinless. Maybe once they are done with talking about this letter of theirs, I can go talk to her?”

            Maurice then responded, “Well, if she does not know yet, then I hope that she is understanding about it. We do not want any internal conflicts in our organization. We are fragile enough, compared to our enemy, as it is!”

              Sven nodded and then walked close to where Lugia was conversing with Entei and Raikou. He heard her say, “Well, I will read this letter in private. Then, if I deem it necessary or positive to do so, I will read the letter to our entire force. I may still only read it to a select number of them.”

            After Entei and Raikou departed and Lugia was turning to head back to her command room, Sven walked up behind her and then said, “Lady Lugia, may I have a moment of your time?”

            Lugia slowly turned back to Sven, and looked down at him, she then asked, “Alright, Sven I believe it was, what is it?”

            Sven then responded, “Well, ma’am, there is something you should know. In case you were not aware… I am actually a ‘defective’ Sinless. I was rescued by the resistance and taken back to the old mountain fortress. Once I was able to convince them that I was genuinely no longer interested in helping the Protectorate, they allowed me to join Recon Squad #1…”

            Lugia then smiled at Sven and then told him, “Entei and Raikou briefed me on your origins as soon as we all met up here. They, along with Raikou’s attendant, Samara, assured me that you were an asset to our cause, not a threat to it. I am somewhat baffled that a member of Reshiram’s clone army would ‘go rogue.’ However, you seem to be a good ally to have. We need everyone we can get, after all. Do not worry, if anyone else questions your loyalty to the resistance’s cause, you will have plenty of Pokémon here who are willing to defend you.”

            Sven nodded, happily at Lugia’s statement. He then saluted her and said, “Thank you very much, my Lady. I am quite relieved to hear you say that. I guess you apparently have a letter to read.”

            Lugia nodded back at Sven and then walked back to her command room. Sven went off to go find Daphne and see if she needed any help, after having talked with Lugia. Helping Daphne was usually how he spent his time after the Western Resistance had moved to the cave network. He was still committed to courting her, after all.

            Sven walked past Samara and Miranda, who seemed to be having a pleasant conversation of some sort. He then turned to Samara and said, “Sorry to interrupt you two, but I just want to thank Samara for supporting me to the Lady Lugia, along with Entei and Raikou, of course.”

            Samara nodded back at Sven and then replied, “You are one of my direct subordinates and someone who I trust. I was more than happy to back you up in front of our new commander, even if you were not personally present. I was hoping that you would tell you herself, eventually. That is why I did not inform you of that conversation earlier. I think that you, as well as pretty much everyone, should be comfortable with who they are.”

            As Miranda smiled up at Samara, Sven then added, “Well, thank you for the vote of confidence. I agree that it probably was for the best that I talked to our new leader myself, anyways. Now, I will be off to see if Daphne needs my help. Have a good day, you two.”

            Samara and Miranda both nodded at Sven, as he left the central chamber.

            Sven found Daphne in a nearby chamber, which had become the new storage room. As he entered, she said to him, “Well, it looks like the first mission since our move here was successful. I was relieved to hear that you all managed to rescue our allies who were being held by the Protectorate after the fortress raid. Thankfully, none of them gave away our current location. Anyway, I assume that you are here to help organize our supplies… again.”

            Sven then nodded and responded, “Well, we have had to send out small parties to gather food from the nearby area. And we now have considerably more Pokémon to feed, so we will have to send out larger parties and have them out for more time now. All of the new food will need to be sorted.”

            Daphne then replied, “Yes, that is all true. We will have to expand our ‘foraging’ party’s reach and the time that they spend outside the cave network. I think that we need to make an effort to search for edible plants that can be grown underground. Thankfully, this cave network connects to at least one underground stream that gives us fresh water. Thankfully, you all in the recon squads have not been using that many of your toolbox items. That way, you all do not need new items that frequently. Anyway, I do need some help organizing our food supplies. We will need to ration our food carefully for the next couple of days, before the foraging parties can gather more food for us.”

            Sven nodded and then went over to begin assisting Daphne, he then mentioned, “Apparently, we received a letter from an unknown source. Lugia intends to read it, and then possibly share it with us.”

            Daphne, as they got to work, replied, “I wonder how the sender of this letter managed to find us. We seem to have remained hidden from the Protectorate. Otherwise, I feel as though they would have attacked our new position by now.”

            Sven nodded his understanding and then they continued to work on organizing the resistance’s food supplies.

            Daphne and Sven spent the next few hours organizing the food rations as best as they could. Then, after their work was done, they both decided to get some rest before having dinner. After dinner, Sven returned to the small cave chamber, with a small straw bed, which he now called his room. He then fell asleep, wondering what the next day would bring and still missing his old room in the loft of the castle tower.

            The next, morning, Sven and with most of the other members of the Western Resistance, were called into the central chamber. Sven and his squad stood next to Rachel and Thomas as Lugia addressed the small crowd. She began, “Everyone, we seem to have received a letter directly from another force that is currently opposing the Protectorate. The leader of the ‘Idealist Army,’ who claims to be the Legendary Pokémon Lord Zekrom, has made a request of us. Now, to be fair, I have encountered Zekrom before. He is quite egotistical and a known libertine. His domain has been known since the fall of humanity for its lax level of control. Zekrom has even been known to say that any single one of his subjects could become the new lord of his territory for the duration of their life… if they could best him in single combat. To sum my opinion of him up, even if Zekrom is putting up a strong opposition to his oldest enemy, Reshiram now, he is not someone I fully trust. His Chaotic nature makes him not the best ally for us.”

            Entei then interjected, “Lady Lugia, you should inform everyone here what Zekrom’s letter actually says.”

            Lugia then blushed slightly and continued, “As for the letter itself. Zekrom tells us that he has become aware that we are also fighting with Reshiram’s Protectorate. He is requesting that a party of Pokémon from our organization go meet with him at his fortress on the far western coast of the mainland continent. He says that most of his forces are fighting the Protectorate on the front lines of the Western Continent. He wants the party that goes to visit with him to contain at least one Legendary Pokémon. Also, he wants the party to contain no more than three Pokémon. We are not sure of Zekrom’s intentions. However, we are not in the position to pass up any possible allies who can help us in the fight against the Protectorate.”

            Raikou then took over and said, “We need some volunteers for the party that goes to meet with Zekrom. Lady Lugia is hesitant to go herself. In part, because she is determined to find out the source of the enemy’s cloned army of Sinless. She wants to focus on that aspect of our work here. So, any volunteers?”        

            Arya looked concerned as Miranda raised a paw. Then, Samara, seeing Miranda volunteer, raised one of her own paws. Suicune then raised her paw, saying, “If we know the location of this coastal fortress, then I can take our two volunteers there. I also certainly qualify as a Legendary Pokémon.”

            Lugia then said, “I think that Samara, Miranda and Suicune will make a good party to go and represent us to Zekrom. Anyway, we will have the three of them set off within the next few days. For now, we will focus on gathering supplies from the nearby area and keeping up contact with our other branches. Articuno and Moltres have already been delivering orders telling them to focus on trying to learn the origin of the Sinless.”

            The resistances’ Pokémon were then dismissed. Daphne was told to gather supplies for Samara and Miranda to take on their upcoming trip. Sven and his squad-mates were mainly concerned about how they would operate without their leader, even if it were only for a short period of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am happy to report that not only is work on my ROC spiritual successor story now well underway, but that the total hits on my series have now exceeded 750! That means that my archive works now have gotten over 3/4 of 1,000 hits all together! Yes, I am aware that there is, and should be, plenty of overlap in that group. Still, I am considering it a milestone. Thank you all for reading once again!


	19. A Change in Plans

Before Samara and Miranda were set to depart, along with Suicune, to travel to the coastal fortress controlled by Lord Zekrom, the two recon squads spent the next week clearing the nearby area of hostile wild Pokémon. They were making sure to stay, “under the radar” of the Protectorate. Around a week from when Lugia had read the letter to the resistance Pokémon gathered in the cave network, Suicune was ready to depart.

            In the sea cave, where the two captured barges were parked, Suicune, Miranda and Samara were preparing to set off. Lugia was with them, along with Arya, Raikou and the other members of the two recon squads. Raikou said to Suicune, “Well, my love… be safe out there. You will be running a long ways to reach the northwest coast of the mainland.”

            Suicune nodded and then, the two of them kissed. Then, As Miranda and Samara were boarding Suicune and settling in under her long purple “mane,” Arya told Miranda, “I want you to be careful as well. I do not know what I would do without you. You are my only child, after all.”    

            Miranda smiled and nodded back at her mother as Lugia finished, “You all should be wary when dealing with Zerkrom, assuming that he talks to you personally. He is really a lord in name only. He does flaunt that title, though. He has always done so even more than Reshiram ever flaunted her title of Lady, as much as I hate her now. Anyway, have a safe trip. Hopefully, you will return with good news within a week or two.”

            Suicune nodded and then said, “I will do my best to not let you down, my Lady. Now, it is time for my passengers to hold on…”

            Suicune was propelled out of the cave, as the sun rose above the water, by a sudden blast of wind, which came from directly behind her. Miranda and Samara were both able to hold on as they all jetted across the ocean, toward their destination.

            As the assembled Pokémon turned to return to the main cave network, Joel said, “I really hope that Samara gets back in one piece. She is too good a squad leader for us to lose.”

            Sven and the others all nodded as they walked back “upstairs.”

            Over the next week, the cave network was relatively quiet. Maurice was named the temporary leader of Recon Squad #1, until Samara returned. The two squads mainly spent their time uneventfully guarding the foraging parties that were being frequently sent out to gather more food to be stowed in the cave network. Raikou seemed to be getting along all right without his attendant being present. He was mainly out on courier missions, anyways.

            Entei had raised the question of what he, along with Raikou and Suicune were going to do without their master, Ho-oh if/when the Protectorate was stopped. Raikou had insisted that they wait for Suicune to return to discuss that topic. Lugia did not seem to have any immediate input on the matter, when she had been asked about it.

            While Arya and Articuno, happy to be working on the same side again, coordinated the Western Resistance’s other branches and their operations. Moltres led the rebuilt assault squad on a few minor raids against Protectorate convoys and outposts in the nearby area. They were always sure to make it extremely difficult to trace their movements back to the cave network base. Zapdos mainly stayed with Lugia, still doing his best to console her after her brother’s death and help her with her strategic planning.

            Lugia was still trying to use all resources at her disposal to find the location where the Sinless were being cloned. Sven felt guilty that he had no memory of where the Sinless were being produced. He did understand, at least, that the Protectorate did not want the cloning location to be revealed to their enemies by one defective Sinless, or a Sinless who had somehow “cracked,” after being exposed to heavy interrogation.

            A week from the day when Suicune and her passengers had left, a letter was found on a rock, far from the water, in the sea cave. Its envelope looked extremely similar to the one that had enclosed the earlier letter from Zekrom.

            When the letter was taken to Lugia, she said, “Well, hopefully this will contain information on how our emissaries were received. If they never arrived, then we will know that they were ambushed on the way there, presumably by the Protectorate’s naval Pokémon, and were not able to escape.”

            Lugia, accompanied by Zapdos and Entei, then went to go read the new letter in private.

            The six recon squad Pokémon, along with Arya and many of their other comrades, waited for the news of what the new letter contained. It was not long until the three Legendary Pokémon stormed out of the command room and up to their allies. Lugia sighed deeply and then told the assembled Pokémon, “We have got a problem. …The letter we have just received contains an ultimatum from Zekrom. He apparently never intended to receive our emissaries and talk with them. They were captured soon after their arrival at the coastal fortress….”

            Arya then quickly spoke up to say, “Does it say if the ones we sent are safe. If this Zekrom has hurt Miranda, than I will kill him myself!”

            Lugia then continued, “All that the letter says about the status of the prisoners is that they are safe, for now. However, the letter goes on to demand that we swear fealty to Zekrom and work together, under his orders, to defeat the Protectorate. Zekrom claims that he does not like to use such underhanded tactics, but that he wants his interests to be protected. He has admitted that he has taken Samara, Miranda and Suicune as hostages and is using them as leverage to force us to follow his orders. He says that if I do not arrive, in person and swear fealty to him for the duration of the conflict, within a week of his newest letter arriving here, then he will execute one of his hostages. Then, one of them will die each following week, he says that he will save Suicune for last.”

            Arya and Raikou both looked distraught, Amber then asked Lugia, “Well, so what do we do? I feel like we cannot let Zekrom win, or let our comrades die. So, do we have a plan?”

            Raikou looked Lugia in the eyes and said, “I am sorry that I did not speak up against this plan before. However, I will not allow the one who has been my lover for millennia perish to this madmon Zekrom! We will have to bow to his wishes, unless we can rescue our allies without risking them being put to death.”

            Arya had been thinking while Raikou was talking. She then said, “There was an ancient human military ploy, which Mewtwo once told me about. I do not believe that the Imperium ever used this ploy. It was normally viewed as highly dishonorable, if strategically smart. Lugia, do you trust me? I think that I have a plan that could allow us to stand a chance against Zekrom without having his hostages killed. It is risky, but I do not want to serve one who threatened my only daughter, either.”

            Lugia looked down and then said to Arya, “I do trust you, I feel that I may have even said as much before. Either way, I am saying this now. What is your plan?”

            As all eyes were on Arya, she began, “Lugia will go to the coastal fortress and offer to meet with Zekrom in person. She will have her three servants with her; she will insist that they follow her anywhere she goes. Lugia will then try to negotiate with Zekrom, stalling him until our barges, carrying myself, and as many of our fighters as we can fit, will arrive. We will scale the fortress and attack the guards present there. Once we begin our assault, Lugia and her three followers will attack Zekrom and attempt to kill him. If he can be silenced, even if he does not die, his followers will hopefully be in disarray. That will hopefully give us all a chance to fight out way to the dungeon and free our allies. Then, we should retreat while the Idealist Army is still in a panic over losing their Lord.”

            Articuno then suggested, “Arya, didn’t Lady Lugia say that Zekrom was willing to, at least temporarily, step down from his office if he could be defeated in single combat. What if, after we dispose of him, we try and force his army to surrender and then accept our orders. That would be quite the reversal. Also, we could use all of their intelligence on the Protectorate, and probably organize their soldiers, better then Zekrom can, into a fighting force that can help us fight the Protectorate on the mainland.”

            Arya then smiled at her old friend and replied, “Incorporation, just like the Imperium used to do. Except we are the underdogs now. I like that idea…”

            Lugia then interrupted, “As much as I hate the thought of being in the presence of Zekrom again. I will go along with your plan. I am the current commander of our organization and I need to take responsibility for my allowing three of our own to be taken captive by a hostile faction. Besides, if we can pull this off we can gain Zekrom’s resources and soldiers. We do not have a choice; we will embark on this new mission tomorrow. We need to arrive at the enemy fortress before he will even think to execute Samara or Miranda.”

            Many of the assembled Pokémon gulped at the thought of their allies being put to death, simply to make Zekrom’s threat carry a real impact. Arya then said, “Alright, everyone, let’s get to work, we will be able to carry around ten Pokémon on each barge, considering all of the supplies that we will need to take. That means that with the two recon squads going, as well as Raikou and myself… We will still have about twelve spots for those who want to go on this mission.”

            Of the resistance Pokémon who Sven knew by name, Rachel and Thomas both immediately responded, saying that they wanted to go on the mission. Nine other Pokémon from the crowd raised their appendages, within the next few minutes. That number included the entirety of the rebuilt assault squad. Entei agreed that he would be running the cave network base, as had become the norm, while the other Legendaries were out. Then, Daphne, who had also been in the crowd raised her hand and said, “I know that I am the quartermaster here, but I want to go on this mission. I want to help rescue Samara and the other captives. Also, I could use the combat experience. Please, I can try to help some of the Pokémon who are staying here to handle our supplies and collect more while we are away.”

            Entei then added, “If she really wants to go, then I say that she should be allowed to go. I will make sure that someone handles our supplies while you all are gone. Let her help fight, she did a good job during the battle of the mountain fortress.”

            The Pokémon in charge of the mission agreed to let Daphne ride in the same barge that would be carrying the two recon squads. Then, Lugia said, “We will spend the remainder of today preparing to set off tomorrow. We will then leave as soon as the sun begins to rise tomorrow morning. Our captive friends and comrades are, once again, counting on us!”

            The entire crowd, stirred by Lugia’s speech, shouted, “For the Western Resistance!” After that, the assembled Pokémon immediately got to work on preparing the two barges, which had had their Protectorate symbols removed, for launch the next morning.

            As for Sven, he felt both nervous and excited that Daphne, his love, was going on the same mission as he was. He did not say it aloud, but he knew that he would take every opportunity to cover her when the fighting began.

            That night, the resistance Pokémon slept as soundly as they could. The next morning, the two barges were pushed out into the water from the sandbar that they had been resting on. Then, the resistance force boarded the barges, Arya, Thomas, Rachel and seven others in one barge, and the two recon squads plus Daphne and three others in the other. The two barges were rowed out of the sea cave, as Lugia and her three servants took off from the caves above.

            The whole force, consisting of twenty-four participants, then set off for their destination, which was the far northwestern coast of the nearby continent.


	20. The Hostages

The lowest floor of the coastal fortress’s dungeon was a dark place, only three cells were present and two of them were empty. There was a massive locked door above, which led to a sturdy staircase descending to the floor. In the one occupied cell, the Legendary Beast Suicune paced slowly. The speed of Suicune’s, normally rapid and graceful, movements was greatly slowed by the power inhibitor shackles binding all four of her ankles. Suicune was growing very restless and angry, as she paced around her prison cell. Since she and her two comrades, Samara and Miranda, had been ambushed and knocked out after entering Zekrom’s throne room and she had woken up in the dungeon cell, no one had come to visit her.

            As she was pacing closer to her cell’s bars, the large door above opened. A huge, jet-black, Pokémon entered the dungeon, alone. He walked down the stairs and then stood in front of Suicune’s cell. Suicune turned to face him. He said nothing and folded his arms.

            Suicune glared up at Zekrom and then said, “Would you mind telling me why you have imprisoned me here? While you are at it, where are Samara and Miranda? If you have hurt them…”

            Zekrom then spoke, “I can explain why I felt the need to deceive you into coming here and then take you prisoner in a moment. As for your two subordinates, they have been collared with inhibitor collars and placed in a comfortable room upstairs. I felt that you needed to be contained somewhere more secure.”

            Suicune then asked Zekrom, “So, they are safe, right?”

            Zekrom then responded, “Yes, you should know that I hate to contain any of my fellow Pokémon against their will, but you and my other two hostages are integral to my current plan. However, should the lovely Lady Lugia not come here to arrange the Western Resistance’s surrender to me within a week, I will be forced to execute one of them. I will allow them to choose which one dies first. If another week passes, than the other will die. Than, you will be saved for last, if Lugia waits three weeks to come here. To be fair, my newest letter tells Lugia all of that information. So, she should be here within a week. I know her well enough to know that she will not sacrifice any of her allies for her pride.”

            Suicune gaped at Zekrom, she then stammered out, “You are serious, aren’t you. You are willing to commit murder just to force others under your control! What is wrong with you?”

            Zekrom just laughed a bit and then responded, “I have been locked in my struggle with my arch nemesis Reshiram for centuries. We only worked together once, and that was against the minions of Anarchos who threatned the entire planet. Now, her new army of clones has turned the tide of our war in her favor. My forces are, as we speak, facing a new push from her Protectorate’s armies. Now, your resistance has also begun to fight the Protectorate, in the wake of Reshiram’s murder of the Lord Ho-oh…”

            Suicune then shouted, “Would you mind getting to the point? Why do you want the Western Resistance under your control?”

            Zekrom glared down at Suicune, he then regained his composure and continued, “I want to claim the entirety of the Western Continent as my personal domain, once this war is over. If I hold leverage over your resistance, than your allies are far more likely to submit to my demands. If Lugia is willing to negotiate, then I will release you and, if she arrives soon, one other hostage to her, she will also agree to follow my orders on all large-scale operations that we undertake. The last hostage will remain here to ensure that no one goes back on our new arrangement.”

            Suicune, having heard almost enough, asked, “I assume that, knowing you, you honestly believe that the surviving Pokémon on this continent will be better off under your rule. Regardless, I think that your use of coercion betrays your ‘true colors.’ Before you leave, I should ask, do you even know where the Protectorate is cloning the Sinless? Do you even know how they have managed to even create one clone in the first place?”

            Zekrom responded, “I am aware of where the facility that the Sinless emerge from is located. It is not too far from the current frontlines of the war, which my allies are trying to hold now. I still have no clue as to how they have built their clone army. I would like to know their method, and then destroy it, as much as you probably do.”

            Suicune nodded, thinking, “If only I could escape with that intelligence, then I could inform Lugia and the other’s of where that facility is. We could then find a way to attack and destroy it! But, I have no idea of how to get out of these chains and this cell. Also, if I escaped Samara and Miranda would probably be killed…”

            As Suicune was thinking, Zekrom then added, “I really do hope that Lugia agrees to my terms. We could use our combined forces to break the Protectorate’s lines and make a beeline for their cloning facility. You should hope that a deal is reached soon, my lovely Suicune. Anyways, I will be off to my throne room, I will have my elite guards come and retrieve you if/when Lugia arrives.”

            Suicune growled quietly, she then nodded and said, “Either way, Reshiram needs to be stopped. She seems to want to create what she sees as a morally perfect world by any means. She is unhinged enough to worry me severely, whatever she is planning.”

            As Zekrom was leaving, he responded, “Well, at least we agree on that.”

            Zekrom left the dungeon and Suicune was left to continue to pace inside of her cell.

\---

            Samara and Miranda had been kept in a considerably nicer room than the dungeon cell, which currently held Suicune. It was painted white and pink and was furnished with gold leaf. Apparently, the room was, officially, one of the fortress’s guest rooms. However, it had a lockable door, which allowed it to be used as a “gilded cage” for its two current occupants.

            A large bed sat in the center of the room; it was actually quite luxurious and easily big enough for both Samara and Miranda. As for the two captives, they were both wearing locked Power Inhibitor collars. They had just been, as was a daily occurrence, led back into the room after it had been cleaned. Samara was looking more concerned than usual this time.

            Miranda looked up at her fellow prisoner and then asked Samara, “I do not enjoy being locked in this room either, but what is wrong? You look severely concerned this time! Your initial rage at being locked up here mostly subsided after the first day. At least they are treating us more like guests than hostages…overall.”

            Samara sighed deeply and then told Miranda, “While we were just outside our well-decorated cell, as the servant crew cleaned it. I tried to ask the Manectric Guard captain, what the ultimate purpose of our capture was, other than to serve as hostages to try and force Lady Lugia to follow Zekrom’s orders. He told me that if around another week passes, one of us will be put to death. Zekrom wants his threat to be perceived as serious. He is willing to kill one hostage a week for that principle.”

            Miranda looked horrified as she then asked, “That means… could they only be treating us so nicely because they know one or both of us will be killed if the Lady Lugia does not agree to their terms? What do we do, Samara?”

            Samara sighed, her heart heavy, she then said, “I was told that if one of us is to be executed, than we would need to choose which one. Miranda, I am going to offer myself up if it comes to that. I will give my life so that you can have a chance.”

            Miranda looked shocked again, she immediately, and loudly, asked, “You will never be able to see your Lord, Raikou, again if you die here! Why give your life for mine?”

            Samara sighed and then replied, “You have your mother, Miranda. She would be destroyed, mentally, if you were to be killed. Besides, you are a bit younger then I am. Therefore, you have more life left…. It is also the honorable thing to do because I a occupy a higher rank than you since I am a squad leader… I cannot order you to die for me… that would be wrong…”

            Miranda smiled and then calmly said, “Samara, there are two things that I can think of, which describe you right now. One, you are a bad liar. Two, you are beautiful to me, not just because you would give your life for mine.”

            For one of the few times in her life, Samara blushed. Miranda then walked up to Samara, until the two of them were almost eye-to-eye. She quietly said, “You are an amazingly devoted and driven Pokémon. It would be honor to spend this time with you, if not the rest of your life.”

            Miranda and Samara then shared a gentle kiss. As they backed up a bit, Samara smiled and gazed into Miranda’s eyes she then replied; “This place does not feel that much like a prison anymore.”

            The two of them then gazed deeply into each other’s eyes and shared another kiss.

            Miranda then said, “I just hope that we can explain this to my mother, assuming we both live to see her again.”

            Samara looked a tad awkward and then Miranda simply shrugged and smiled back at her newly admitted love.

            Samara then added, “What concerns me more is how we will get out of here alive. I am sure that our comrades will figure that out though.”

\---

            A few days later, the pair of repainted resistance barges, with Lugia, and her three servants overhead were within sight of the coastal fortress’s docks. Lugia then called down, “Arya, you will command the assault on the docks with Raikou. I will fly ahead with Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. We will try to distract Zekrom until you get there.”

            Arya then looked up at Lugia and shouted back, “Of course, my Lady. Full speed ahead!”

            Arya then thought, as the other Pokémon on the barges who could row rowed as fast as they could, “We are coming, Miranda. Just hold on! I will see you again!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again readers, I just wanted to note that this story is now 2/3 posted. Also, I wanted to mention that my spiritual successor story is well under way now, with over 20 rough-draft chapters finished. Admittedly, I am not sure how many that is out of yet. I also wanted to acknowledge that my stories have now racked up 30 total Kudos! Thank you all, again.


	21. Zekrom Vs. Lugia

The two barges continued to plow over the rolling waves in the early morning, they were currently just off of the northwestern coast of the Western Continent. The stolen Protectorate vehicles were carrying the bulk of the Western Resistance’s strike force, which was heading for the docks of the coastal fortress.

            The fortress, which was built into a large hill on top of some seaside cliffs, was quite unassuming. However, its docks were visible along with three parked barges. Lugia and her three servants were now far enough ahead of the main force that they were no longer easily visible to the Pokémon on the barges. As Sven kept rowing one of the oars of the barge that he and the other recon squad members were aboard, he shouted out to his allies, “I just thought of something, whatever happened to that Mightyena, who we captured and handed over to Rachel? I thought that the Protectorate captured her when they raided Rachel’s branch? However, we did not find her in the tower prison.”

            Amber replied, as she also kept rowing, “I think that Rachel mentioned earlier that the Protectorate transferred her farther inland. She was not a political prisoner, anyway.”

            Sven nodded as he continued rowing.

            At the front of one of the barges, Arya shouted out, at this point, “I believe that Lugia and her servants have landed safely. Hopefully, they will be allowed to enter the fortress and begin stalling Zekrom. Full speed forward, everyone. We need to get there as fast as we can so that she does not have to stall for too long!”

            Sven, knowing that Arya’s daughter, Miranda was among those being held hostage by Lord Zekrom, followed her orders and rowed as fast as he could.

            Standing behind Arya, was Raikou who then added, “We will dispose of the dock guards as fast as possible. Everyone, when we begin our assault, avoid sinking barges or killing any enemy Pokémon. If our plan is to work, to its full extent, then we want to keep every member of the Idealist Army alive!”

            As the barges continued to close with the cliffs, the rough form of two staircases began to be visible. They seemed to lead up to a large double door that had been worked into the ocean-facing hillside.

            Arya shouted, “At least we now know that there is a way up from the docks. We should be within minutes of our destination. The problem is that they will probably see us soon. Get ready to fight, everyone!”

            Sven steeled himself for the fight to come as the barges began to aim for their landing positions on the shoreline.

\---

            Inside of the coastal fortress, Lugia had landed and then been escorted, with Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres in tow, by a few guards to Zekrom’s throne room. When they all arrived at the center of the fortress, they discovered a tall-ceilinged circular chamber with blue, white, and black furnishings and a number of passageways and doors leading to other parts of the fortress. A combination of torches and some dug out “skylights,” which were equipped with closeable wooden covers, lit the colossal room.

            As for Zekrom, he was lounging on a massive throne, which had been carved from a massive block of stone especially for him. A male Manectric, who wore a black sash, similar to the other guards, was sitting nearby the throne. Zekrom hauled himself off of his throne and then, in a way, which seemed both sincere and a tad mocking, bowed to Lugia gracefully. He then looked at his Manectric and said, “William, go take a couple of Fraxure and retrieve miss Suicune from the dungeon. I want to show our beautiful guest that she is safe and unharmed.”

            Zapdos eyed Zekrom uneasily; he did not like the idea of anyone else flirting with Lugia. William then bowed to his lord and set off for the dungeon. As he was doing so, Zekrom smiled at Lugia and then said to his other servants, of which there were four in the room, “Since the Lady Lugia brought three of her friends, none of whom I have become acquainted with, yet, I will have you all stay here with us. Two of you, go to the rear door and make sure that we are not disturbed during this important meeting.”

            Lugia then, as two of Zekrom’s Axew attendants circled around to guard the rear door, said, “Zekrom, my servants and I are here to negotiate with you. You have forced us to come here with some underhanded tactics, now we are here. What do you want, exactly, from us?”

            Zekrom then smiled again and then responded, “It would be my pleasure to explain my terms and position to you, my magnificent lady…. I see that your yellow friend really dislikes when I complement you…. Regardless, Suicune will be here shortly and when she is brought up, we will begin.”

            Lugia, nodded, thinking, “Zekrom is actually playing into our ‘hands’ at the moment. He is retrieving Suicune, which may make our job simpler. We won’t need to find her in his dungeon, now. Also, his servants are making sure that we aren’t disturbed. That will hopefully buy Arya, Raikou and the other’s some more time for their attack.”

            Articuno then asked, “Lord Zekrom, could you be so kind as to tell us if your other two prisoners are safe? I assume you do not yet want to reveal their location to us?”

            Zekrom then, remaining calm, responded, “Well Lugia my Lady, I saw that you brought another eloquent beauty with you. Yes, the other two hostages are safe. We are holding them in a guest room in this very fortress. For now, I have no plans to reveal their exact location to you. You should be pleased to hear that you have all arrived in time to prevent any of them from begin executed.”

            It was at that point, when William and a pair of Fraxure, led a chained Suicune up into the throne room. As well as she could, Suicune bowed to Lugia. She did not say a word, unsure of whether or not Lugia intended to surrender the Western Resistance to Zekrom.

            Zekrom then said, “Now that Suicune is here, I can give you my terms. You see… I would both like your assistance in bringing down the Protectorate, and to become to sole Lord of the Western Continent, if we can defeat Reshiram for good. In order to achieve those goals, I want you, Lady Lugia, to surrender control of your movement to me. By this, I mean that any major tactical decisions that you make will be subject to my veto. Whatever forces you have will be at my beck and call, unless sending them to my forces’ aid would collapse your movement, or put you at imminent risk of collapse. Then, if our combined forces can put a stop to the Protectorate, you will all allow me total control of the Western Continent. In exchange for this alliance, with me in control, I will release Suicune here to you, along with one of my other two hostages. You can choose the other hostage. The final hostage will be released to you if we can win this war. Now, do you agree, my Lady?”        

            Lugia then asked, “Zekrom, if you want us to submit to your leadership for the duration of this conflict, we would like you to have a plan to defeat the Protectorate. Do you have one?”

            Zekrom then nodded and responded, “I know where the Protectorate’s cloning facility is. I was hoping to use the firepower of your Legendary Pokémon to help my besieged troops break the enemy lines. Then, we could make a beeline for the facility and try to destroy it. Reshiram’s ‘Sinless’ are unnatural. I want to see them all wiped out as much or more than you do. Now, I do not want to wait any longer. Lugia, it is ultimately your decision, will you agree to my terms or will you allow your allies to be put to death?”

            At that point, there was a loud series of knocks on the rear door to the throne room. The knocking continued until Zekrom sighed and then ordered his minions, “Open it! This better be important, or else whoever that is, they are going to be in severe trouble!”

            The pair of Axew opened the double door and then a female Piplup wearing a black sash ran in. she shouted, “Zekrom, my Lord. A pair of barges have landed at the docks! We are under attack, Raikou is with them!”

            As Zekrom face-palmed, Suicune smiled and all of the Idealist Army Pokémon in the room readied themselves for action. Lugia then shouted, “Zekrom, it is your army that will now be submitting to us! You missed the chance to work with us peacefully. Attack!”

            Zapdos gave the equivalent of a grin and then blasted the whole room of foes with a Discharge. The female Piplup and another ally of Zekrom’s fainted from the attack. Also, the electric blasts targeted Suicune’s shackles, frying them and freeing her. Articuno then targeted Zekrom, with A Powder Snow. Moltres blasted the room with a Heat Wave, downing another three minions of Zekrom, including the two Axew who had been guarding the rear doors. Suicune then hit Zekrom with an Aurora Beam and Lugia sniped him with an Aeroblast.

            Zekrom ordered his standing allies to attack and used Fusion Bolt to blast Lugia, and Zapdos. Articuno and Moltres engaged William and his two Fraxure. Zekrom cursed under his breath, as the battle was engaged, realizing that he had allowed the ones who he had been trying to coerce into his lair when they had no intention of agreeing to his plan.

\---

            Back outside the fortress proper, the barges had docked at the docks and their passengers had cleared out the first wave of guards. The barges had disgorged their passengers, after having taken multiple ballista bolts in the process of docking. Arya had used her Flamethrower move to destroy both of the ballistae atop the cliffs after they had docked.

            Raikou then took charge, shouting, “We will split into two groups and advance up the staircases, I saw one guard running back inside, she may have alerted her master by now. I can only hope that Lugia is dealing with Zekrom!“

            Sven followed his allies up the stairs; Joel led the way on their staircase. The other recon squad Pokémon and a couple other resistance members followed him. They encountered minimal resistance, especially with Maurice flying ahead and using Rock Throw on some of the enemies and Sven angling Water Pulse attacks upward. Daphne was towards the rear of the group; she was not doing much at the moment.

            Raikou and Arya made it to the top of their staircase first. Once there, they used a combination of Discharge and Inferno to drop the last unit of guards blocking their way forward.

            It did not take long for the recon squads and their allies to meet up with Raikou and the others. Arya shouted, “They seem to have only a skeleton force stationed here. Maybe the Protectorate has thinned out their army to a considerable extent?”

            The others shrugged their shoulders; if possible, they then allowed Joel to ram the doors leading inside. A small unit of guards awaited the intruders just inside. However, A combination of Sven’s Water Pulse, and the other Pokémon’s attacks rained down on them. Most of the Idealist Army Pokémon were dropped within seconds. The others turned to run.

            They did not make it far as Arya and Raikou led the charging resistance Pokémon inside the fortress. A second hail of attacks fainted the remaining guards blocking the path to the throne room.

            When the strike force made it to the throne room, they saw that Lugia, her three servants and the liberated Suicune had taken up the side of the room near the door, while Zekrom and his remaining guards, including a Fraxure and William, who had now Mega-Evolved were holding the throne side of the room.

            Zekrom shouted, “Their main force has arrived, cover my retreat! I am going to inform our frontline troops of our loss here.”

             As Raikou and Suicune reunited and the strike force added their attacks into the fight, dropping a number of Zekrom’s allies, Zekrom launched himself into the air and through the room of his fortress. He did not stop even as he crashed through the solid rock surrounding the largest skylight.

            Lugia quickly took off after Zekrom and shouted, “Take the rest of them out and then find Samara and Miranda!”

            Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres followed their Lady up into the sky, after Zekrom. As that was happening, William shouted, “Fight to the last mon standing!”

            However, William’s words were not well heeded as his troops were now outnumbered and demoralized. As Joel led the recon squads and the assault squad forward, four of the resistance Pokémon fainted. However, they quickly advanced on and overwhelmed most of the remaining guards.

            Sven was relieved to see that Daphne was still standing. However, the, now desperate, William used a Discharge of his own to blast the remaining resistance forces. Sven felt heavily weakened, more importantly, though, he saw Daphne faint.

            Enraged, Sven rushed William and hit him with a Lick. The Idealist Army captain was staggered and then dropped by a combination of Maurice’s Rock Throw and Amber’s Mega Drain.

            The last few Idealist Army Guards then surrendered, seeing that they could not win the battle at that point. Arya then shouted to them, “Where are you keeping the other two hostages?”

            The Fraxure, who was among the conscious Idealist Army Pokémon, shouted back, “They are in a guest room on this floor. One of us will take you there. You have won now, don’t kill any of us.”

            Raikou then told Arya and the others’ “I will take command here. Arya, take our recon squads and go find our captive allies.”

            Arya nodded and then told the Fraxure, “You will have mercy, but you will need to lead us to your prisoners.”

            The Fraxure nodded and then took Arya and the recon squads to the guest room. Joel, and Chloe stayed with him while Arya melted the lock with a minor pulse of her flaming breath. Then, Arya, Miles, Sven, Maurice and Amber burst into the room.

            They saw an inhibitor collared Samara and Miranda with their lips locked in a kiss. Upon hearing the door being forced open, Miranda and Samara opened their eyes and looked at their rescuers. Recon Squad #1 and Miles rushed forward to remove the collars, using keys that the Fraxure had given them. Arya just stood in the doorway, unable to remove her mental focus from what she had just seen.   

            Upon being un-collared by Miles, and as Samara was being freed by Amber, Miranda walked up to her mother and smiled at her.

            Arya was able to partially recover from her stupor and then ask, “Miranda, I am so glad to see you safe again, but, what is going on? Why were you two kissing?”

            Miranda, as Samara walked over to her, smiled brightly and then replied, “Mom, you have to understand, Samara and I admitted our feelings for each other while we were in Zekrom’s custody. We are in love!”

            Arya fainted.


	22. Aftermath of the Coastal Battle

\---

            Zekrom was jetting away from his coastal fortress, through the air, as fast as he could. He was determined to reach the frontlines where his other forces were fighting against the Protectorate. He looked back briefly and saw Lugia was both chasing after him and catching up to him. Her three servants were following her closely and all of them were gaining on Zekrom.

            As she got closer to the object of her pursuit, Lugia aimed one of her Aeroblasts at Zekrom and fired the beam of hyper-concentrated wind into the “turbojet” on Zekrom’s tail. Zekrom slowed down and then whipped around to face his foes. Lugia shouted, “He knows he cannot outrun us! Prepare to fight!”

            Zekrom fired a Fusion Bolt at Lugia; she took evasive action, but got zapped in the tail by the beam of electricity. Lugia began to feel faint, but she persevered and flew in closer to Zekrom.

            Zekrom then screamed in pain as he was simultaneously charged and hit with a Drill Peck by Zapdos, sniped by an Ice Beam from Articuno and blasted by a Flamethrower from Moltres. Lugia then flapped her wings mightily and rushed at Zekrom. Once she had closed with him significantly, she used Ancient Power to knock him out of the sky.

            Zekrom tumbled to the ground and then groaned in pain, his body badly broken from the fall. He had landed in a small forest clearing, with a stream nearby.

            With her three servants still airborne, but nearby, Lugia gracefully swooped down and landed near Zekrom, the wind that blew out form her wings flapping shook the trees mightily.  

            Zekrom then looked up at Lugia and told her, “Well, you have won, my beautiful Lady. I should never have deceived you, and now, this is my punishment.”

            As Zekrom coughed heavily, “Lugia replied, “You brought this on yourself by believing you could control us. You betrayed your own ideals of Pokémon being free to do as they please. You have no one else to blame.”

            Zekrom nodded and then looked Lugia in the eyes, he then said to her, his voice the most serious that she had ever heard it, “I give you my army, if they will follow you. Just promise me that you will do whatever you can to stop Reshiram. Also, that you will release my followers if you defeat her and her Protectorate.”

            Lugia then nodded and told Zekrom, “I promise that I will use your army, if they will obey me, as effectively as I can. And, you know that, since Reshiram murdered my only brother, I will do everything that I can to bring her down.”

            Zekrom nodded and then smiled up at Lugia as he closed his eyes, breathed his last breath and died.          

            Lugia then said to her servants, “We will transport his body back to the nearby fortress. It greatly saddens me that he threw his life away on this mad scheme of his. However, we will use his forces to achieve the goal that we all want achieved, the end of the Protectorate.” Lugia then took off and began to fly back towards the coastal fortress. Her three servants picked up Zekrom’s corpse in their talons and then flew behind her, making sure to keep a tight hold of the body they were carrying.

            Back at the coastal fortress’s “guest room,” Sven and the others watched as Arya woke up. Miranda had been standing close to her unconscious mother for the last few minutes. However, Arya was quick to regain consciousness, since she had not been felled by extreme injuries. It seemed to everyone in the room that she had fainted from shock right after Miranda had told her that she and Samara were in love.

            When Arya stood back up, Miranda asked her, “Mother, are you alright? Why did you faint?”

            Arya gathered herself and then replied, “Miranda, if you really want to be with another female, then that is your life. However, from what I have seen of Samara, she is both entirely serious in personality and devoted to serving Raikou as his attendant. I do not think that someone like that would make a suitable romantic partner for you. You are so fun-loving and adventurous, she is not.”

            Sven then spoke up to say, “Everyone, I think we should leave Arya, Miranda and Samara to work this out. Let’s get back to the throne room and see if Lady Lugia is back yet.”

            Samara then replied, “That is probably for the best, Sven.”

            Amber then added, “You just want to make sure that Daphne is alright, don’t you? We will go back to the throne room, anyways.”

            Sven blushed a bit and then, as they were all filing out of the room, admitted, “Yes, I want to make sure that Daphne is conscious again. She means a lot to me.”

            Joel led his squad, minus Miranda, out of the room, while Maurice called out to Samara, “I will relinquish control of our squad back to you once we regroup, ma’am.”

            Samara nodded and then did her best to salute Maurice with a paw, she then added, “It seems like you kept everyone alive in my absence. Good job, Maurice!”

            When Sven and the others reached the throne room, they saw that Raikou and Suicune were watching the idealist army members who had surrendered without being knocked out. Those Pokémon had been herded into one corner of the room where there were no doors heading in or out. The Fraxure who had led the recon squads to the guest room was ordered, by Joel, to join his defeated comrades, which he did.

            Sven then saw that the fainted resistance members had been moved to the center of the room and were being watched over by the other surviving members of the strike force.

            Sven hopped to where Daphne was laying and stood over her, protectively. It was not long, until a few of the resistance’s Pokémon, including Thomas and Rachel, were sent to raid the treasure chambers of the fortress, which were located underground near the dungeons, for Reviver Seeds. When they returned with the five requested seeds, they reported that they had found a large treasury filled with Poké as well as a number of TMs, consumable items, evolutionary stones, other evolution-inducing items and even a few Mega-Stones.

            Sven was given a Reviver Seed, which he fed Daphne as she lay on the stone floor. As the other four downed Pokémon were also being revived, Daphne sat up and looked at Sven, she then said, “It looks like our side won. Why am I not surprised that it’s you brining me back up?”

            Sven smiled at Daphne and responded, “I am just happy that you are alright. Lady Lugia has not yet returned from chasing after Zekrom, we just need to hope that she caught up to him before he could reach his other allies!”

            Daphne nodded and then asked, “Did you all manage to find and liberate Samara and Miranda. I do not see either of them here, or Arya for that matter.”

            Miles, who had been chatting with Chloe, then looked over at Daphne and said, “It looks like Miranda and Samara fell for each other, if you know what I mean. Arya was not pleased with the whole thing. She even fainted as soon as Miranda finished her sentence!”

            At that point, Arya, Miranda and Samara emerged from a nearby door. Arya could be overheard saying, “Well, Miranda, if you really want to go ahead with this, then I will not stop you. I just want you to be happy with whomever you end up with. You know that I am looking out for you.”   

            Daphne then said to Sven and the others nearby, “It looks like she is doing better now. Anyway, do we just wait for Lady Lugia to come back now?”

            Sven nodded and then responded, “Even if Zekrom escapes, we now have his base of operations in our control. That gives us an advantage.”

            Suicune then looked over and added, “We will want access to the Idealist Army’s forces if we are to take over and then destroy the place where the Sinless are being cloned. Zekrom seemed to know the location. We will either force one of his high-ranking officers to reveal it, or find a map with it marked somewhere in here.”

            Sven was visibly shaken by Suicune’s statement, he then said, “I will go there if I must. However, I would rather not do anything that puts me in close proximity to anything that the Protectorate could use to ‘reprogram’ me.”

            Daphne then put an arm on Sven’s shoulder and said, while smiling at him, “Do not worry, we will all be there with you. Admittedly, I might have to get to work organizing the treasure trove that everyone is talking about now. You know me.”

            Sven nodded back at Daphne and then heard the flapping of wings. Lugia then dropped into the throne room. Her three servants followed her in as she stood out of the way. They were carrying the dead body of Zekrom.

            The surrendered members of the Idealist Army gasped as they saw their Lord’s corpse being lowered to the floor of the chamber. Lugia then looked over her own forces and ordered, “Go out and bring all the defeated members of the Idealist Army here. They need to see what has become of Zekrom. Also, I want them to hear what I have to say to them.”

            Most of the assembled members of the Western Resistance rushed off to see if they could gather the defeated guards of the coastal fortress and bring them to the throne room. As that was happening, Lugia looked over to Samara and Miranda and said to them, “It seems as though you two are safe. Did your captors harm either of you? I am just glad to see you both safe, regardless.”

            Samara who had walked closer to Raikou then bowed to Lugia and replied, “We are more than safe, my Lady. In fact, we ‘found each other’ during our imprisonment.”

            As Arya sighed, Lugia smiled down at Miranda and Samara and said, “I did not see that coming. However, you two do make quite the cute couple.”

            Sven, who had stayed in the throne room with Daphne, could not resist telling Lugia, “Ma’am, Arya actually fainted as soon as Miranda told her about her new romance.”

            Arya blushed and then exclaimed, “I am really just relieved that my daughter is alive and well. As for her new love affair, we will have to see how long it lasts.”

            Lugia gave Arya a bit of a look, then she ordered, “Raikou, Suicune, take Sven and Daphne and go see if you can find a map room. I want to know the location of the Protectorate’s cloning facility by the end of today!”

            Raikou and Suicune bowed to Lugia and then, they led Sven and Daphne to look for a map room.

            With the help of some of the defeated servants, they found the map room in short order. It turned out that, placed on a massive table, was a map of the entire Western Continent with what looked like a particular spot circled in red ink.

            The resistance members were told that Zekrom had taken that particular map out and placed it on the table so as to plan a joint assault on the cloning facility with Lugia.

            After that, the resistance Pokémon and their effective prisoners, including William, who was revealed to have been Zekrom’s last right hand Mon, were all gathered in and around the throne room.

            Lugia stood, with her three servants right behind her, next to the corpse of Zekrom. She then began, “I did not have a speech planned. However, I will do my best…. Zekrom is, as you all can plainly see, dead. To the members of the Idealist Army, your leader has fallen. I was the one who knocked him out of the sky. I will admit that to all of you right here and now. Now, you all have a few choices. One, you could try and avenge your master, which would probably lead to you sharing in Lord Zekrom’s fate. Two, you could all disband, and let the Protectorate wash over this region like a tidal wave. Or finally, you can regain any honor you had in the first place by standing with us to fight our mutual enemy…the mad Lady Reshiram! I offer you all the chance to fight alongside us and help put an end to the Protectorate’s madness! If we can defeat our shared enemy, then my forces will leave you to your own devices once the conflict is over, that I can promise all of you! Lord Zekrom, before he passed away, said that I was to take control of you all so as to use your strength to defeat Reshiram and her hordes. You will have to trust my word that he told me that before he breathed his last breath. Now, will you honor his last wish and help defeat our real enemy?”

            The guards and servants all turned to look at William. William stepped forward and then bowed to Lugia, he then said to her, “As the second in command of the Idealist Army, this decision falls to me. I will follow your orders as I would my late Lord’s orders. However, I do demand that you free all of us who survive from this service once the Protectorate is stopped. Deal?”

            Lugia simply nodded yes and then William nodded back to her. He then said to his allies, “Send word to the frontlines that we are under new leadership and that they are to keep fighting. I assume that we will be joining them to take the fight to our enemy shortly enough.”

            The assembled Pokémon all cheered as Arya quietly slipped out of the throne room. Articuno noticed her leaving, and then followed her.

            Once the cheering had died down, Daphne told Sven, “Let’s head down to the treasure room and see what valuable items we can find. There could be Mega-Stones for Amber and Joel down there!”

            Sven agreed, eager to spend more time with the one he loved.

            As Lugia, William and many of the other high-ranking Pokémon present walked over to the map room, Daphne and Sven walked down to the treasure chamber. They were directed there by one of the fortress’s Axew guards.

            When they arrived, they saw Arya and Articuno talking. Arya said, “Yes, I know that this is just like incorporation. Regardless, we just have to hope that the frontline members of the Idealist Army listen to William and, therefore, follow our commands. I will, presumably, be needed to help plan our next big move soon. Anyway, I think I found one…”

            Articuno then looked over to Sven and Daphne and said, “I assume you two are looking to organize these items. We will be on our way now.”

            Arya, with Articuno’s help, concealed an item within her many tails. The two of them then left the room and headed back upstairs. Daphne then told Sven, “Ok, we will start by getting out the Mega-Stones and placing them all in the same pile. Then, we can have them analyzed to see if any of them will work for Joel and Amber in the future.”

            Sven nodded, saying, “Of course, I wonder what those two took with them, though?”

            Daphne replied, as she began digging through large piles of coins and objects, “Who knows? We should focus on our work here, though.”

            Sven nodded his agreement, he was just happy to be working alongside his love.

            The two of them spent the next hour gathering up all of the Mega-Stones they could find. They then walked back upstairs, determined to find rooms to rest in within the fortress complex.


	23. Advancing Towards the Facility

Sven and Daphne had just brought the coastal fortress’s stash of Mega-Stones up to the throne room. It was getting to be later in the day, as the dimming light coming in through the holes in the roof showed. Daphne told Sven, “I will bring these Mega-Stones over to Amber and Joel. They should be able to discern which ones will work for them. Thank you for the help, as always, Sven.”

            Sven smiled back at Daphne and responded, “I will look for a place to rest the night. I assume that now that our leaders know where the Protectorate’s cloning facility is, they will want to assault it soon. We will probably not be based here for that long.”

            Daphne nodded and then, right before she turned to leave, said, “You have been very helpful lately. If we find an intact town during our advance, maybe we can have another dinner then?”

            Sven brightened up immensely and rapidly responded, “Yes, of course. I would be more than happy to eat with you again. I would like to hear more details about how you came to work for the resistance, anyways.”

            Daphne looked a bit awkward and then finished, “We will see about that part. Anyways, I need to get to our comrades with these stones.”

            Sven nodded as Daphne departed to go and find Joel and Amber. He assumed that, knowing them; they would likely be somewhere together.

            Sven then, feeling quite upbeat from both the day’s victory and the promise Daphne had made him, began to explore the interior of the coastal fortress.

            Eventually, while in a large hallway, he saw Arya. She seemed to be looking for someone, but had not noticed Sven as he approached her from behind. Not wanting to bother Arya, Sven did not get any closer to her then he already was. He then noticed that she was calling out for Miranda. Sven quickly assumed that her focus on finding her daughter, and her calling out Miranda’s name, had “blinded” her to his footsteps.

            Sven instinctively ducked behind a large pillar as he saw Miranda run out and into the hallway in front of Arya, responding to her mother’s call. Miranda then asked Arya, “Mom? What’s going on? I need to find Samara.”

            Arya then smiled at her daughter and told her, “Miranda, I know that you are not happy with me for being critical of the one whom you have chosen to be with. However, I want… no, need you to know that you still mean the world to me as my only child. In order to make sure that you never forget that, I have this to give you…”

            Arya released the object, which she had taken from the treasure vault of the coastal fortress, from her tails. Sven saw an orange stone clatter on the floor. Arya then walked back a bit and used her nose to nudge the stone towards Miranda.

            Miranda then smiled warmly at her mother, almost in tears. She then confidently took one of her paws and touched the Fire Stone. Miranda’s entire body began to glow brightly and she evolved from Vulpix to Ninetales.

            Arya and the, newly evolved, Miranda smiled at each other and then leaned in close to each other, nuzzling gently. Sven did not dare to move from his concealed position, thinking, “This is a very sweet moment. I am just lucky that they are not Lucario. I have heard that they can sense the auras of those nearby them.”

            Miranda then told her mother, “Thank you so much. This gift… it means a lot to me. I love you, mom. Anyway, I should be getting back to finding my Samara now. She will be pleased to see my new evolution!”

            Arya smiled back at her daughter, moderately awkwardly. Then, mother and daughter parted ways so that Miranda could find Samara and Arya could find Lugia and the other’s and assist in planning their next move.

            Once Sven was confident that he had not been detected by either of the Ninetales, he returned to searching the palace for a room to spend the night in.

            Eventually, Sven ran into Maurice, who showed him the group of rooms where the rest of Recon Squad #1 was staying. Apparently, Amber and Joel had both obtained their proper Mega-Stones from Daphne before heading off to bed.

            The next day, it was noon when every Pokémon staying in the coastal fortress at the time was called to the courtyard that was between the outer wall of the fortress, which faced further inland, and the fortress proper. Lugia, her three servants, Suicune, Raikou and William stood before the main body of Pokémon, who were present. William began by announcing, “Our couriers have been sent to the frontlines and all Idealist Army outposts between here and there. They are under strict orders to tell the rest of the Idealist Army of the recent, dramatic, change in our leadership structure. They are also to inform the rest of the Idealist Army that we are all moving north for a massive push against the Protectorate that will, hopefully, take us to their cloning facility and allow us to smash it into oblivion!”

            William then bowed to Lugia and allowed her to continue with the briefing, she then added, “We will start by preparing supplies for the march during the rest of today. Then, we will move southeast from this position tomorrow morning. We will not leave a single Pokémon here, as we will need everyone we can in order to give us the best chance of pushing back against the mad Lady Reshiram’s army. We will pick up every Idealist Army Pokémon we can along the path to the front, for the aforementioned reason. Once we reach the frontlines, we will charge the weakest point in their formation and break through. Once we have broken through their frontlines, we will keep pushing until we reach the cloning facility. Once there, we will send in our best Pokémon via the air, while the bulk of our forces hold off the likely Protectorate counterattack.”

            After Lugia completed her portion of the speech, Raikou then finished, “We will gather our supplies into three carts today. The carts will stay at the rear of our formation as we head to the southeast. When or if we reach any settlements, we will advise the local Pokémon to either join with us, and help fight the Protectorate, or retreat back toward the coastal fortress. That is all for now, you will soon be given your assignments to help pack our supplies into the carts.”

            Suicune then added, “We need to believe that we can do this! If we can destroy the place where the Sinless originated, we can possibly turn the tide of this entire conflict! Let’s all do our best in the battles to come!”

            The crowd cheered, even as Sven continued to feel nervous about returning to the place where he had been “born.” He had no memory of the facility. However, he was determined to see Reshiram defeated, so he cheered along with the others.

            It was not long until the assembled Pokémon returned to the fortress and began to haul supplies out to the three carts, which had all been parked in front of the fortress’s front gate.

            The next morning, the force of over forty Pokémon set off to meet up with the other Idealist army forces. As they were moving farther to the southeast over the next week, their couriers returned with news that the rest of the Idealist Army was willing to follow Lugia’s order for the sake of winning the fight against Reshiram and her followers. The force picked up over twenty of the Idealist Army’s Pokémon as they kept advancing toward the frontline. They also picked up over forty new recruits and various supplies from the towns they passed through and near to, which had been under Zekrom’s control.

            It had been a total of ten days since the force departed from the coastal fortress when they reached a small town not far from the frontlines. Once there, they set up a sprawling camp to temporarily house their, over one hundred Pokémon strong, force.

            Upon consulting with the locals, Lugia’s forces discerned that the Idealist Army Pokémon in the region had been pushed back by the mass of Protectorate troops until they reached the nearby forests. The Idealist Army’s field commanders had been able to successfully entrench themselves within the forests. Then, they had withstood multiple attempts by the Protectorate to dislodge them. As the situation currently stood, the Protectorate had both retreated to a series of camps just to the east of the forest and had also sent some of their forces further east, closer to both the cloning facility and Reshiram’s home, the Fortress of Truth.

            The first order of business, which Lugia attended to, was sending William, Raikou and Suicune, along with the bulk of the reinforcements, to the frontlines. They were to get a better grasp of the situation, once there. Then, an exact battle plan would be made that would allow the reinforcements surprise attack to have the maximum effect on the Sinless and Aspiring, who were gathered in the Protectorate’s camps.

            As for the two Recon squads, they remained in the town, along with Lugia, her three servants, Arya, and some others.

            Daphne, as the quartermaster of the Western Resistance, was given the task of leading the organization of all the supplies for the forces untied against the Protectorate in the area. Sven, of course did his very best to assist her in her duties as they organized the supplies that would be needed for the push east that was soon to come.

            The force spent three days in the town, as its leaders were preparing the attack plan for the assault on the Protectorate’s camps. One evening, Daphne came up to Sven after they had spent the day working on finishing organizing their supplies. She said to him, “I just heard that tomorrow, or maybe the day after that, we are moving out. We have been here the last few days, and need to move against our enemies. Our commanders say that we need to reach the cloning facility and raze it to the ground as soon as possible. Only when Reshiram loses her soldier factory, will we stand a chance in this war.”

            Sven then nodded and responded, “I am actually glad that it is a war now. I did not much enjoy hiding from the Protectorate and only attacking them in small ways. Now, we are taking the fight right to them!”

            Daphne nodded her agreement and then added, “Well, we are in a town now. Our latest assignment has been completed, I suggest that we have our dinner now.”

            Sven smiled brightly and then responded, “Great, I remember seeing a café not far from here. We should head over there and see if it is still open.”

            Daphne nodded at Sven and then the two of them headed over to the small café. Much to their good fortune, the place was still open and its sign said that it would be for another few hours. Daphne and Sven then sat down and ordered their food and drinks.

            As the two of them gazed over some nearby hills at the setting sun, Daphne asked Sven, “So, it looks like Samara and Miranda are now together. I knew that Samara was interested in other girls, but Miranda never struck me that way.”

            Sven responded, “Its their romance, not mine. For all I know Miranda could be interested in both males and females. Anyway, it does not seem to negatively impacted Samara’s performance either as my squad leader, or as Raikou’s attendant. She is a bit happier, though. To be honest, I am happy for both of them. I actually happened to see Arya giving Miranda the Fire Stone that allowed her to evolve into a Ninetales. Arya really cares about her daughter, despite her negative reaction to hearing of Miranda and Samara’s love affair.”

            Daphne nodded and then said, “I am happy for them, as well. Miranda has always had an upbeat personality. However, she seems even happier now that she is with Samara. I still honestly wonder if Arya will ever be romantically involved again? I have heard some strange stories about her and some society called the Imperium. Apparently Articuno’s mortal form was involved with it, as well. But, she ended up regretting it.”

            Sven then told Daphne, “You know, we have spent a lot of time talking about others, we should talk about ourselves.”

            Daphne then blushed slightly and replied, “I know you want to know more about my past. However, it really is as simple as this… I was raised in a very strict family. My parents and siblings were all of the belief that those who commit offenses against morality and society should not be given a second chance and should be dealt with in the harshest way possible. They found themselves to be in agreement with the Protectorate, and became collaborators when the Protectorate occupied my hometown on the southern coast of the island where our cave base is. I did not agree with their harsh views, so I joined the local branch of the Western Resistance. But, by own brother, who had become an Aspiring officer, was able to find us and they raided the branch where I was. I was able to flee and make it to the mountain fortress, evading my pursuers. Once I joined up with the main resistance force, I was assigned to be a quartermaster, seeing as though I have a knack for organization.”

            Sven, who had been listening attentively the whole time, said, “I am sorry that you had such a falling out with you own family. Of course, I have no family of my own, so I sort of know how you feel.”

            Daphne nodded and then their food came. Daphne and Sven were both silent throughout their meal. Once dinner was over and Sven had paid the bill, they got up from their table. Daphne then took a deep breath and looked Sven in the eyes. She then said, “When I joined the resistance, my whole family disowned me. They could not stand the idea of having a resistance member as a relative. So, I know how you feel, Sven. Our comrades are our families, I would say. Anyway, thank you for dinner. You are a good Pokémon and even if we never become a couple, I am happy to know you.”

            Sven then asked, “It is really nice to hear you complement me like that. However, I have to ask, is there a specific reason that you do not want to be with me? Are you just not that interested in romance?”

            Daphne looked a bit awkward and then told Sven, “You are still a clone, Sven. Your whole personality was a happy accident. As of now, I would feel a bit too weird dating someone like you. Even if I may like the idea of being with you based on your personality. I still hope that they never reprogram you, because that would be quite the tragedy. Anyway, goodnight, we both need some rest.”

            Sven looked a bit defeated and then, as Daphne was about to leave, said, “I do not know why, but I love you enough to not give up on you yet. Goodnight, Daphne.”

            Daphne blushed and then, the two of them parted ways for the night and got some sleep.

            The next day, Amber woke Sven up. She told him, “We are needed. The attack is happening soon!”

            Sven nodded and then followed Amber to the town square, which had been turned into a briefing area. Sven and Amber arrived and then stood with Samara and Maurice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I just wanted you all to know that my spiritual successor story is nearing completion. It will have more than 34 chapters once finished, most likely, making it my longest story to be posted on this website. Thank you all for reading, again.


	24. Breaking Through the Lines

It was only a few moments after Sven and Amber joined with their squad-mates that Lugia, with her three servants standing behind her, began the briefing. She said, to the assembled Pokémon, “We have decided that we cannot wait any longer to make our attack on the Protectorate’s camps to the east of here. This morning, we will all march to the trenches that the Idealist Army has dug in the forest. From there, we will send out two small forces, each of those units will be led by a Western Resistance Recon Squad. The two small forces will attack and attempt to capture the camps that flank and guard the main road that leads east of here. Once the Protectorate forces realize that they are losing, or have lost, their central camps, they will ideally move in to retake them. Once that happens, we will rush out in force and attempt to wipe out the enemy forces in this area. After that, if we are successful, we will begin our advance towards the cloning facility. I hope that we can reach it within the next month. We will liberate as many towns as we can along the way, in order to bolster our numbers. Once we are close to the cloning facility, we will devise a plan to assault and destroy it.”

            As the majority of the assembled Pokémon prepared to move out, Moltres flew over to the two recon squads. She informed them, “Recon Squad #1 is to take ten of our Pokémon, who will volunteer for this assignment and attack the southern camp guarding the road. Recon Squad #2 is to do the same thing and assault the northern camp. If you all can occupy the camps, then you should hold your position there until we can arrive to destroy the oncoming Protectorate forces.”

            Joel and Samara nodded their understanding of their new orders. Then, each of the recon squads gathered around ten allied Pokémon, of varying species. As the main reinforcements moved in behind them, Samara led her squad and their backup southeast into the forests. Joel and his unit separated from Recon Squad #1 and then moved northeast into the forests.

            After passing the Idealist Army’s frontlines, the Sven and his allies left the forest and were now in an open plain. The ground was dry in this area and there was very little foliage of any kind. Sven thought, “There is pretty much no cover out here. I hope that they do not notice us until we get closer to the camp.”

            The unit advanced toward their objective for what felt like ten minutes. They could see what they thought was the other unit doing the same thing in the distance. Then, all of the sudden, a series of large objects began flying out of the camps. Samara shouted, “They are firing ballista bolts at us? We have been spotted! Advance on the camp at full speed!”

            Maurice and a few other Pokémon took to the air and the others began running at full speed in order both close the gap between themselves as their destination and evade the incoming ballista bolts. As the incoming bolts thudded into the ground around and behind the advancing Pokémon, they approached the camp and saw the gate of its wooden fence opening.

            A large number of Bibarel and Linoone stood in the front ranks with a small number of Heracross behind them. The Heracross started firing Bullet Seed attacks into the oncoming Pokémon as the Linoone and Bibarel charged out to do battle with their enemies.

            Maurice started launching Rocks down at the oncoming Protectorate forces. Samara led the counter-charge in and detonated a Thunder Bolt into a number of her enemies. Sven blasted the enemy’s front line with a powerful Water Pulse and then rushed in to begin using Lick on the enemies. Amber targeted the Bibarel with Grass type moves like Leaf Blade and Mega Drain.

            As the Heracross Mega-Evolved and then continued their barrage, Samara shouted, “We will take out their frontline. The rest of you, circle around them and deal with the snipers!”

            The eight remaining allied Pokémon, doing what they were told, circled the Protectorate’s forces and began to attack the Heracross, of which three remained at the time.

            Sven then jumped back and used another Water Pulse, which finished off two Linoone. A Bibarel then fell to Amber’s Mega Drain. Samara used bite drop another Linoone and Maurice felled the final Linoone by striking her with boulders from his Ancient Power.

            The three Bibarel who were still standing blasted Maurice with Water Gun shots. He evaded one blast and took the two others. However, he survived the hits and remained conscious.

            Then, as the Heracross battled their allies, Recon Squad #1 attacked the three Bibarel. Amber dashed behind one and sliced into his back with a Leaf Blade, knocking him out. Samara used another Thunder Bolt to severely injure the last two standing. Sven used his Lick to drop one of two stragglers and Maurice used Pluck to drop the other.

            Then, the squad saw that their allies had lost two more Pokémon to the Heracross. They then rushed forward to help finish off the last two Heracross. With the gate guards down, Samara made a note to retrieve their fainted allies once they had taken the camp and then gave the order to charge inside.

            Inside the camp, they found that there only a few more weak Aspiring engineers who had been monning the ballistae. Once they had been dealt with, Samara had the six conscious allied Pokémon dragged the four unconscious bodies of their fellows inside of the camp. They then closed all of the gates and began aiming the ballistae towards the south, where they expected the Protectorate attack to come from. Samara then used her Bite to cut the rope holding the Protectorate flag up on its pole. Amber was stationed on the camp’s northern wall to see if Joel’s squad were able to take the other camp. It was not long until Amber called down, “Joel’s unit did it! The other camp’s flag is coming down!”

            Samara smiled and, then as Amber came down from the wall, shouted, “Now, we wait for them to counter-attack. The Lady Lugia should be leading out primary force out to wipe them out once a significant number of enemies have arrived nearby here.”

            Sven and Maurice looked out from atop the south wall. Their allies below were monning the Ballistae and waiting for the order to fire.

            About an hour after they had first been stationed on the wall, Maurice squinted a bit and then shouted, “I see a massive force of enemies coming right for the camp! Fire at will once I say they are in range!”

            Sven then shouted, “I see them too! There are at least sixty of them! They have taken the bait, now we just have to see when Lady Lugia brings out our primary force.”

            The Protectorate counter attack began to close in on the camp. The Pokémon inside could only assume that Joel’s position was in a similar situation. Sven thought, while crouching behind the wall’s wooden stakes, “This is just like when we were outnumbered at the mountain castle. But, this time it is we who have backup waiting in the wings!”

            Maurice then snapped Sven back into reality by shouting, “They are within range! We should be able to get off around three volleys. Fire at will!”

            The densely packed Protectorate force had much more trouble evading the incoming projectiles than the smaller and more agile resistance force had had. Ballista bolts struck a number of their Pokémon as they advanced on the captured camp. By the time that the enemy force was almost at the camp, a total of four volleys had been fired into them.

            At that point, Lugia, her three servants and over twenty other airborne Pokémon burst into the sky from the forests canopy. Lugia and Zapdos veered toward the south, while Articuno and Moltres veered to the north. Each pair took a number of other flyers with them. Then, as the Protectorate forces were distracted by the appearance of Lugia and her followers. William appeared from the forest and shouted, “For liberty... Charge,” he then Mega-Evolved and rushed forward towards the oncoming Protectorate Pokémon. Then, the ground shook as Raikou, Suicune and over one hundred other Pokémon rushed out from the forests.

            The Protectorate Pokémon were unsure of what to do. It seemed as though they had no idea how much their enemies had been reinforced. As they tried to figure out a plan of attack, Sven reported their indecisiveness to Samara, who shouted, “Keep firing into them. Once our allies get close enough, we will move out and help them directly!”

            Sven’s jaw dropped as he saw Lugia and Zapdos glide over, with a string of smaller airborne Pokémon flying behind them. Lugia used Extrasensory to blast a number of Protectorate troops, as Zapdos used Discharge to injure and drop a large number of enemies.

            Samara, as the battle outside the camp was joined, ordered her unit out and into the fight. Sven ran into battle alongside his squad-mates.

            Within the next hour, the outnumbered and underpowered Protectorate forces signaled a full retreat on all fronts of the battle. They had been drawn into a trap and most of their division had been obliterated.

            The combined force under Lugia pursued their enemies east from there, they were to catch up to and destroy most of the survivors of the preceding battle within the next week as they continued their advance towards the place where the Sinless were being cloned.

            After dealing with the survivors of their previous battle. The forces under Lugia liberated a small city, which had been under the Protectorate’s occupation. Lugia’s forces managed to pick up a significant number of new recruits who were sick of the Protectorate’s rule there. After rooting out the remaining Protectorate sympathizers in the city, from whom they were able to learn some details of the troops positioned between the city and the cloning facility, they continued to advance east for the next week.

            Both recon squads were actively involved with scouting and helping to destroy the Protectorate positions between their army and the cloning facility over the next week.

            The various Protectorate outposts on the way to the cloning facility were not as heavily staffed as Lugia had expected them to be. With the recon squads doing a solid amount of the work, Lugia’s army was able to wipe out most of them with very few casualties. The Protectorate intelligence, which they had been able to capture, seemed to indicate that a massive number of Sinless and Aspiring had been moved to the island off the coast of the Western Continent. Raikou and Suicune did express a degree of concern for Entei and the other members of the Western Resistance, who were still on the island. However, they reasoned that all they could do at that moment was focus on their advance toward the cloning facility.

            William suggested to Lugia that it could be possible, with the cloning facility razed, their combined forces, which continued to experience net growth as more and more anti-Protectorate Pokémon joined them, could eventually assault the Fortress of Truth itself. Lugia made a note of the possibility. However, she told William that his forces would be, at minimum, expected to try and hold their ground at the destroyed facility once it had been taken.

            A bit over two weeks after Lugia’s army had won the battle at the forests’ edge, they seized a small town from the Protectorate’s army. This town was special, because it was within sight of the cloning facility.

            The cloning facility, which stood just beyond a small stretch of forest, was a towering building. A large portion of the, heavily restored, ancient human structure was covered by glass windows. Light brown bricks covered the rest of it. The building stretched out from the ground like a half-oval of sorts and had, the letters P.L.O. etched into it in multiple places. The largest of which was barely visible from the town.

            After picking up another twenty-ish Pokémon in the town, who were willing to fight against their former oppressors, Lugia revealed that they were now well into the territory that had been officially controlled by Reshiram historically. The fortress of truth was believed to be just less than a week away.

            A couple of days after their arrival, Sven and his squad arrived in the small town’s square, which was filled with Pokémon, in the early morning. Lugia had called them there for another important briefing. Apparently, they were going to attack the facility and try to locate the source of the Sinless before more Protectorate troops could arrive to defend the building.


	25. The Cloning Facility

As the army that had risen up against the Protectorate stood in the square of a small town, in the shadow of the massive and mysterious cloning facility, Lugia began her latest briefing, “Everyone, today we march on the place where our foe, the mad Lady Reshiram, has manufactured an army that supports her with complete loyalty and devotion! In order to put an end to her insane dream, we will strike at the birthplace of those who unswervingly serve her tyranny!”

            The crowd cheered when Lugia finished her statement. The noise was deafening to Sven, who knew that in order to defeat Reshiram, he would have to reenter the place where his kind, the Sinless, had originated. He did his best to mentally prepare himself for the assault that was to come.

            Then, Lugia continued her speech, saying, “Now, as for our actual plan of attack. Our hosts have informed me that four repaired human flak cannons defend the facility. These weapons can unleash a storm of hot lead into our forces coming in from the air. Also, they are believed to be able to be aimed downwards, allowing them to decimate any force attacking the facility from the land. In order to deal with the Protectorate’s defenses, I will take my three closest servants and airlift a small elite unit above the cannon’s range and onto the roof of the building. We will destroy the guns and then our other flying Pokémon will join the battle. Before that happens, we will march our main army into the forest between this village and the enemy’s position. There, they will await the destruction of the flak cannons. Once the cannons are down, they will charge in while our airborne Pokémon provide support against the remaining defenders.”

            Articuno then stepped forward to give the order, “Arya, Rachel and both of the resistance’s recon squads will make up the unit which rides in to attack the facility’s roof. Get ready to move out, and then meet with us. We will get you to the roof, you will help us bring down the flak cannons and the enemy defenders up there.”

            Samara and Joel led their squads up to meet with the flying Legendaries. Arya and Rachel followed them. At the same time, William, Thomas, Suicune and Raikou led the massive force of Pokémon into the forest up ahead. As Sven’s squad was preparing to move out, Daphne ran out of the mass of advancing Pokémon and told them, “Good luck up there! I think we will be one step closer to ending this war, as of tonight!”

            Sven, quickly responded, “Be safe Daphne… I love you.”

            Daphne simply blushed and smiled before disappearing into the crowd. Then, Sven sighed, wondering if she would ever openly reciprocate his feelings.

            The ten-Pokémon unit arrived where Lugia and her three servants now were, just east of the village. Then, Recon Squad #1 boarded Lugia and Recon Squad #2 split up into groups. Miles and Chloe boarded Articuno. Rachel and Joel boarded Zapdos as Joel mused, “It should not be long now until I get to fly myself around!” Lastly, Arya and Miranda boarded Moltres.

            Miranda shouted to Samara, “Looks like we will be together on this one!”

            Samara shouted back, “I am looking forward to it. Now let’s go, we have a Protectorate to cripple!”

            The four Legendary Birds took to the air and began to rapidly climb in altitude. The Pokémon on their backs all held on for dear life. They had never ridden Pokémon who were accelerating upward at that steep of an angle.

            They quickly passed over their allies, who were advancing into the trees. They then, after reaching a very high altitude began to fly toward the cloning facility. As they got closer to the building, they saw a series of flashes coming from below, specifically from the top of the facility. The sound of lightning fast objects whizzing past them could be heard. Lugia shouted, “They are firing at us. Thankfully, those flak cannons still seem to be having trouble hitting us at this range. Prepare to dive!”

            As they flew over the building and prepared to dive, Lugia took a few rounds from the cannons below, as all four guns were now firing on the flight. Lugia groaned from the impact, her hide was able to easily resist deep ocean water pressure and almost all small arms fire, but these rounds had been designed to pierce the hulls of armored aircraft. Lugia then began to dive, her three servants following her as streams of lead blazed past them.

            Once they were close enough, Lugia unleashed a mental blast with her Extrasensory move and weakened both the turrets and their gunnery crews.

            As the four Legendary Pokémon were about to land on the flat roof of the facility, Zapdos used Discharge and Moltres used Heat Wave to severely damage every turret. Articuno rendered one turret inoperable by using her Ice Beam to freeze it.

            Sven saw that the Protectorate’s gunnery crew and the rooftop’s guards consisted of a unit of Riolu and Lucario. Lugia then landed, and blasted a turret into oblivion with her Ancient Power.

            After all of the Legendary Pokémon had landed, they quickly allowed their passengers to dismount. Then, before the two remaining turrets could fire on them, they took back off into the sky.

            Arya used an Inferno to attack a squad of the guards, at the same time, Miranda sniped a Lucario with a Flamethrower. Miles and Chloe each dropped a Riolu using their Psybeam attacks. Sven then opened up with a Water Pulse on another group of foes as Amber and Joel moved in to cover him. Samara then rushed a turret and used a Spark on it to try and fry its circuitry. Maurice then used his own Ancient Power attack to smash the turret completely. Rachel then moved in to try and attack the final turret with her Discharge move.

            The remaining Protectorate troops guarding the rooftop rushed in to counterattack, however, they were quickly dispatched with the help of the circling Legendary Pokémon. Moltres then destroyed the final flak cannon, which had been trying to shoot her down, with a Flamethrower. With all four flak cannons destroyed, they saw Lugia’s main army come rushing out from the forest, repeating their earlier strategy.

            Lugia shouted to the elite unit on the rooftop, “Find a way inside! We will start moving to cover our allies on the ground.”

            As Lugia was saying this around fifty Protectorate Pokémon, both Sinless and Aspiring, charged out from the facility’s gates to meet their enemies. Also, a number of light machine gun turrets emerged from the walls to pepper the attackers with bullets.

            Zapdos shouted, “My Lady, I suggest that we, along with our other flying Pokémon, destroy those guns. They could make out ground forces life a lot harder!”

            Lugia nodded and then led her servants downwards. She obliterated a light turret with an Aeroblast as her servants began to attack the other turrets. The other allied flyers did their best to attack the remaining turrets and any enemies lurking just inside the windows of the building.

            Arya noticed a hatch leading inside. She walked over to it and shouted, “Once we get inside, I think we should head for the lower floors by whatever means necessary. If we can avoid their main forces coming upwards to engage us, then we can try to sneak attack them from behind.”

            Arya then used a Fire Blast to melt the hatch and then, the ten Pokémon dropped in. They found five Sinless Machop and Three Sinless Machoke awaiting them.

            As those enemies advanced forward, steam erupted as Arya fired up an Inferno and Sven unleashed a Water Pulse and the edges of the two moves’ areas touched. From the steam, a pair of Psybeams emerged; each shot dropped one of the Machop.

            Then, the rest of the Pokémon moved up to engage the Sinless formation. Sven soon charged in to use a Shadow Sneak on one of the Machoke. He then saw Amber getting slammed into the ceiling by a Machop’s Seismic Toss. Samara used her Thunder Bolt to weaken a number of the enemies, as Maurice knocked out a Machop with Pluck. Joel then downed a Machoke with his Dragon Breath and Arya took down another one with a Flamethrower.

            Even when outnumbered three to ten, the Sinless kept fighting, Sven evaded one Machop’s Seismic Toss and then was thrown into the ceiling by another’s. The final Machoke rushed at Miles and weakened him with a Karate Chop. However, Miles’ and Chloe’s Psybeams brought him down. Sven then jumped back and used a Water Pulse to drop the two Machop that were still standing.

            After they had defeated the enemy squad, Arya said, “It looks like there are elevators flanking this hallway. Everyone, see if you can hit the ‘down’ buttons and call an elevator.”

            All six elevator’s buttons were pressed, but only one elevator, which had presumably been used by the Sinless they had just fought, was ready for them. The elevator was industrial grade and could fit all ten Pokémon inside it.

            Sven was next to one control panel, he asked Arya, “Where to, Ma’am?”

            Arya replied, “We are heading downstairs…. Hit the ‘B’ button. That should take us to the basement, the lowest level of this building.”

            Sven saluted Arya and then followed her order. The elevator whirred as it rapidly descended. It was only a few moments until the light on the control panel for floor “B” light up and the elevator’s doors opened up.

            The unit stepped out into a dark hallway. The lights at the top of the hall lit up, one at a time. Then they noticed a loud whirring noise coming from the end of the hall. As well as a female voice grunting and occasionally screaming in agony. Arya then said, “It looks like we have a couple of things to explore here. We will investigate the voice first, then the whirring.”

            The whole unit advanced, only to be stopped by a squad of seven Sinless Dedenne, who all filed into the hallway. Sven, Arya and Samara all used their normal area-effect attacks, as Miranda used a Flamethrower from behind her comrades to finish a weakened enemy. Joel used Ember as Maurice used Ancient Power. Maurice was able to down a foe with his attack. Miles and Chloe teamed up to faint a third target. As the battle was joined, and the four Dedenne standing made their counterattack, Rachel shouted, “Oh my Arceus… I know that voice!”

            Even though they managed to weaken the assault unit, the Dedenne were felled in short order. They were less experienced then their attackers and did not have the numbers to put up an effective defense. Joel then asked Rachel, “That voice, who is it?”

            Samara, Amber, Maurice and Sven all looked at each other and nodded, as Rachel exclaimed, “It sounds like the female Mightyena alpha that Recon Squad brought to my branch as a prisoner. The Protectorate must have taken her here!”

            Arya then shouted, “Well, it sounds like she is in pain. We should go free her. Even if she was our enemy before, who knows what they have done to her!”

            The ten Pokémon rushed over to the cell, which had the screams coming from it. Joel smashed the door down and then the unit peered inside. They saw that it was indeed the female Mightyena from before. She was shackled with inhibitors on all four of her ankles and wearing some kind of strange helmet that was equipped with a blinking green light. There was a device on the roof of her cell with an antenna extending from it. It was flashing a light, which was the same exact color as the helmet’s light. The Mightyena looked at the unit and stammered, “I can only resist it for a few seconds. Please free me! I will do whatever you want!”

            Rachel immediately stepped forward and used her own Discharge move to blast the device on the roof, the helmet and the captive Mightyena’s inhibitors. Amber and Sven then quickly removed the fried devices. The liberated captive then fell to the floor and said, “Thank you! I recognize some of you from before…. That does not matter now. That device was only a very early model of what they plan to build. I think there is a miniature model of it nearby. We have to stop them, that machine violated my mind… By the way, you can call me Rowena….”

            Rowena then fainted from the exhaustion of trying to resist the Protectorate machine’s mental control. Arya then took charge and said, “Rachel, Miranda, stay with Rowena. We are going after that whirring noise and the miniature model Rowena mentioned!”    

            With Rachel and Miranda left behind, the eight-Pokémon unit then raced out of the hallway and into the room that the whirring noise had come from. Once there, they saw a massive series of spinning machines. The whole contraption sparkled with electricity. They then saw a number of Sinless Shinx and Luxio approaching them. Arya shouted, “Of course, more electric types…engage them!”

            As Sven thought, “That machine may be powering this whole building!” He fired a Water Pulse into one group of the oncoming foes. Most of his allies stayed back and fired ranged moves into the approaching enemies. Samara did charge in and Bite one of the hostile Luxio. The unit held their ground against the waves of oncoming Sinless, until they had wiped them all out. Then, as a badly wounded Sven panted, his body began to glow brightly, the same thing happened to Amber and Maurice.

            Sven evolved from Frogadier to Greninja, Amber evolved from Grovyle to Sceptile and Maurice evolved from Archen to Archeops. Amber grinned and said, “Ready to Mega-Evolve now!”

            Sven then added, “I think I have got a couple of new ‘toys’ to play with next time we encounter some enemies.”

            Maurice then finished, “We should report this machine to our superiors, assuming that we can take this facility.”

            Arya nodded and then said, “We should begin searching for this miniature model now.”

            The unit walked around the machine. Then, they walked back into the main hallway. Then, they tried opening the door to the room across from where Rowena had been held. When they opened it, they saw a model of what they all recognized as the mountain where Ho-oh’s fortress had stood. The fortress had a new structure built on top of it and above it, there were other structures built, which led even higher up the mountainside. At the top was a final structure, which had a massive tower on top of it. The tower top was flashing a light similar to the one on Rowena’s helmet. After they had looked the model over, Amber said, “I think they wanted the mountain fortress for a reason, after all.”

            Samara then added, “We need to report this at once!”

            Then, everyone heard footsteps running down the stairs. They ran out into the hallway and then all breathed sighs of relief to see that it was a resistance squad led by Thomas. Arya told him, “It’s just us. We have some things to show the Lady Lugia.”   

            Thomas then responded, as Rachel and Miranda dragged Rowena’s fainted body from her cell, “We have driven the enemy from this building and are setting up a perimeter. Our troops above are smashing the Sinless cloning tubes. What is the most important, though, is that you regroup with the Lady Lugia in the main chamber. We also have something to show you. We have located the source of the Sinless!”

            Sven’s jaw dropped, he was relieved that they had taken the facility, which reduced his chances of being reprogrammed in the future. However, he could only wonder what they would find upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers, I just wanted to inform you all that my spiritual successor story has been finished in rough-draft form. It will begin posting after my ROC super-prequel "Ruination" is done posting, at the latest. I have also begun editing the spiritual successor story. Thank you all for reading.


	26. The Source

Thomas and his unit led Arya, Rachel, and the two recon squads, who were dragging the unconscious Rowena with them, upstairs. Passing by a number of allied Pokémon, many of whom were busy destroying cloning chambers and looting supplies and documents, they eventually reached the massive main chamber of the cloning facility.

            The main chamber was large enough for Lugia to easily fit inside. Cloning chambers of various sizes lined the walls of the oval-shaped room. Lugia was barking out orders to a number of allied Pokémon, who were all fiddling with control panels in various areas of the chamber. Sven noticed a large central tube in the center of the room. There were a number of fine holes in the tube with needle like devices nearby, seeming ready to poke inside the tube through the holes. As Sven and his allies entered the room, he heard a familiar voice call out, “Looks like you evolved too, and so did Amber and Maurice.”

            Sven turned to see Daphne, now a Floatzel; she was trying to supervise a number of Pokémon. They were clearly all trying to do something with the room’s controls. Sven walked over to Daphne and told her, “We think we may have discovered what Reshiram’s plan is! The Protectorate is trying to convert Ho-oh’s mountain into some sort of facility! We were hoping that someone could bring up the model we found, so that the Lady Lugia can see it.”

            Daphne replied, “Well, she is busy up here trying to liberate the source of the Sinless. Once we have done that, we will destroy this building, and presumably look at this model of yours.”

            Sven cocked his head and then asked, “Liberate...”

             Then, he heard Arya, who was standing next to the tube and face-pawing, call out, “I should have known…this is going to be extremely awkward!”

            Lugia then called out, as the control panel’s all lit up brightly, “Arya, you are about to meet your almost mother in law. Finish the release procedure!”

            A series of lights began to flash in the chamber as Sven stared into the tube. Suspended within it was a pink, vaguely feline, Pokémon. As the green fluid surrounding her was fully drained and the tube begin to retract up into the ceiling of the chamber, she opened her eyes.

            Arya stammered, “It’s…it’s Mew, the original mother of mortal Pokémon. This was the facility where the human P.L.O. rebels of days long past held her. Then her DNA was transferred to…”

            As Arya trailed off, her mouth still agape. Mew floated out of the, now opened, tube and closer to Lugia she then seemed to smile. She then said, her voice taking on a semi-joking tone, “Lugia, what took you so long?”

            Lugia looked deeply taken aback and then replied, “Mew, do you remember where you last were…”    

            Mew then interjected, “Yes, the humans wiped themselves out, and then Pokémon tried to rebuild civilization. Then, my clone tries to conquer it all, I see you brought his beau with you, by the way. Then, Anarchos nearly blows the whole planet to pieces. Then, of course, Reshiram got this place up and running and uses my DNA to build an army of absolutely loyal soldiers…”

            Arya then, somewhat panicked, asked, “How did you know all of that? Weren’t you just unconscious in that tube the whole time?”

            Mew just chuckled and then replied, “Not exactly, even though I could not free myself, my mind was able to literally roam. I saw so much happen during my time here. When the Protectorate started making their clones, I tried to use what little mental power I had to make some of them ‘defective.’ I only had one real success in that endeavor…”

            Mew then smiled at Sven as his jaw dropped, He then asked her, “Do you mean that I was not really just an accident? You messed with my cloning process…you made me the way that I am?”

            Mew quickly nodded and then replied, “Yes, ‘Sven’ I did make you a ‘defective.’ And the Protectorate is still none the wiser to my interference.”

            Sven then awkwardly smiled back at Mew and said, “In that case, thank you! I would just be a drone without you!”

            Mew smiled again and nodded at Sven, she then turned back to Lugia and said to her, “In this building, there is a model of the transmitting tower that Reshiram plans to build on your late brother’s mountain. Reshiram plans to eliminate free will because she believes that without it, Pokémon can become morally perfect beings. That much I know.”

            Lugia then ordered the assembled Pokémon, “Bring me that model! We should also make plans to destroy this facility so that our enemies can never use it again!”

            The two recon squads then rushed downstairs, leaving Rowena’s unconscious body with Rachel. They were able to carefully transport the model upstairs, where it was placed on the flat part of a control panel. They also brought up a number of documents from that room, so that Lugia could view them.

            After Lugia had looked over the plans and the model, she looked deeply distressed. She then nodded her head and told the crowd of Pokémon, which now included her three servants, Raikou, Suicune and William, “Reshiram is building this tower on my late brother’s mountain, so that she can broadcast some sort of mind-control signal into the minds of every Pokémon on the planet. The signal will penetrate to the deepest ocean trench, deep underground and far into the sky. I do not think that anyone will be safe. She will have control over the minds of every Pokémon in this world. We need to get a large portion of our forces back onto the island to the north. We must find out how close they are to finishing the transmitting tower!”

            Suicune then added, “The map in the coastal fortress showed a port to the direct north of here. If we can take that, we should be able to use the barges there to send as many of us as we can back to our cave network base!”

            Lugia then nodded and told Raikou and Suicune, “Head back to the coastal fortress and meet up with the Pokémon we sent back there. Take the barges there and, with whoever will crew them, sail them to the port. We will move on the port from the land. I want every actual member of the Western Resistance and as many of our recent recruits to go with us back to the island. William, lead the Idealist Army and as many of our recruits as you can to try and threaten the fortress of truth. We need to distract as many of them as we can from building the tower, now that the Protectorate’s forces are finite.”

            William, Raikou and Suicune all nodded and then set off to obey Lugia’s orders. William said, as he was about to leave, “We will do whatever we can to stop Reshiram. I always knew that she was insane, but now the real extent of her insanity has been revealed. We cannot allow her to mentally enslave the whole world!”

            Daphne then suggested, “I heard Amber mention a large machine in this facility’s basement. If we can rig it to explode, than it should take the entire building out in one go!”

            Lugia nodded and then ordered, “You all, get to work on that we will fully evacuate this place and then move back to a safe distance.”

            Mew then interjected, “You should know that I am going with you. I feel guilty enough that my DNA was used to create most of Reshiram’s army; I need to help you destroy her and all that she has built. By the way, whatever happened to that group of Pokémon who helped stop Mewtwo and later Anarchos? The Pokémon Adventurers Guild, I believe it was called? I have not been following their exploits lately, due to watching the Protectorate.”

            Lugia replied, as they were all heading out, “Their latest Guild Mistress, Kelly, the great-granddaughter of Mewtwo’s killer, Kyla, was on this hunt for an ancient human something buried deep under Megapolis. I have no idea how we could contact her and how much help she could bring. I assume that she would want to help us stop Reshiram, though.”

            Mew nodded and then grinned, she then told Lugia, “Leave all of that to me.”

            Lugia looked a tad confused as Daphne led a small group of Pokémon downstairs to rig the reactor in the basement to blow. As Sven and his squad followed the others out, he called out to Daphne, “Be safe down there! See you outside the facility.”

            Daphne then smiled back at Sven and replied, “The same to you. I know what I am doing, I should be fine.”

            Sven and the others left the cloning facility out the front door. Miranda seemed to be in a perfectly good mood, even thought Arya felt very awkward, especially since Mew knew who she was.

            Lugia’s army had gotten a good distance form the facility when they saw a number of their Pokémon running out the front door. Sven heard Daphne shouting, “…is going to take out the foundation! Everyone get back and get down!”

            Daphne and the Pokémon who had helped her hit the deck as they reached the perimeter. Everyone else looked up and saw an eruption of fire and shrapnel take out a good portion of the cloning facility. With the foundations and lower levels of the building obliterated, the rest of the facility collapsed down onto the ruins of the lower levels. The whole thing went up in flames as Lugia’s army cheered, seeing the Sinless’s home destroyed.

            Sven helped Daphne up and then she embraced him, saying, “Isn’t the light of the burning fire romantic?”

            Sven’s heart leapt up as he disengaged the hug, he then asked Daphne, “You…you finally?”

            Daphne then replied, “You are not an accident, now I feel no guilt in doing this…”

            As Sven wondered what his being an accident or not had to do with anything, Daphne passionately kissed him and he reciprocated the kiss. 

            Sven then asked, “How long have you wanted to do that for?”

            Daphne smiled and said, “Since we took the coastal fortress, to be honest. I am sorry that it took me until now to feel comfortable admitting my own feelings. Now, I think we need to head back to the nearby village and get some rest. Raikou and Suicune have already left and Lady Lugia will want to move out tomorrow morning, probably.”

            Sven nodded and then took Daphne’s hand. They walked back to the nearby village together, following their allies. Sven still wondered how much the intention of his personality mattered to Daphne, but being with her was important enough to him that he did not dwell on that thought for very long.

            The next morning, Sven and Daphne woke up and then headed outside to discover that William was already leading the Idealist Army, and as many other recruits as he could find, including Rowena who had sworn off of eating other Pokémon, to the east. They were to try and neutralize as many other Protectorate bases on the Western Continent as they could. They were also to march on and take Reshiram’s fortress of truth if they could. That was mainly in the hope that they could distract the Protectorate from their plan on the island to the north.

            That day, Lugia took her portion of the army and moved it to the north, picking up a few new troops from liberated villages and bulldozing through the small Protectorate units who opposed them. Lugia began to become more and more concerned that Reshiram had withdrawn many of her troops from the Western Continent to help build and guard the transmitter tower. Of course, Lugia’s forces were finally making real dents in the Protectorate’s numbers and now had another Legendary Pokémon, Mew, with them. However, they all knew that if the Protectorate completed their machine and used it, their efforts would all be for naught.

            Around a week from the fall of the cloning facility, Lugia and her force of over sixty Pokémon took the northern port they had targeted. They did so with little effort, because only a token force of Sinless and Aspiring remained at the port. They were able to prevent the sinking of any and all of the port’s barges by its defenders, as well.

            The next day, Raikou and Suicune arrived with four barges in total. A force of ten barges, including six taken from the port, left from the northern coast that day. Within a week, they had managed to dock at the western coast of the island, where the cave network base was located. Lugia’s army began to set up a number of camps on the plains above the caves. They knew that they would be visible to any Protectorate units who got close enough, but they did not have a choice.

\---

            As the Western Resistance’s Pokémon were trying to create a plan of attack for destroying the transmitter tower and slaying Reshiram, Mew approached Lugia, saying, “There is something you should know. There is another powerful Pokémon on this island who could help us. However, our enemies also seek its aid.”

            Lugia looked inquisitively at Mew, she actually had a feeling about whom Mew might be talking about. She nodded at Mew, signaling a desire for her to continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I just want to let you know that editing on my spiritual successor story is nearing completion. It will most likely be completed soon. The spiritual successor story will start posting, at the latest, after Ruination is fully up.


	27. The Grand Golem

In the throne room of the fortress of truth, only two days after the fall of the cloning facility, Reshiram was standing over a map and looking intently at it. She thought, “It will not be more than around a month now, soon the world will be perfected. Soon, free will shall finally perish!”

            Reshiram had only been receiving certain messengers recently. She was focusing all of her energies on making sure that her transmitter tower was nearing completion. She was currently completely alone in the throne room. Her guards were standing outside the door, so as to not disturb their Lady. As Reshiram thought of what was to come, Cresselia came barging through the double door to the throne room.

            Reshiram then turned to Cresselia and gave her a somewhat frustrated look. Cresselia panted for a moment and then told Reshiram, “My Herald, my Lady, I know that I was not to disturb you until our move to the island, but we might have quite the problem on our hands!”

            Reshiram, somewhat condescendingly replied, “Once the signal begins transmitting, you will have what you want. It will be a World effectively devoid of pain and suffering. Still, we need to make it to that day. So, what is the problem?”

            Cresselia told Reshiram, “My Herald, a combined force of Pokémon, which included both the Idealist army and much of the Western Resistance, led by Lugia herself broke through our lines and took many of our settlements. Worse of all, they assaulted the Mew Facility and liberated Mew, as well as destroying the building. Now, the Idealist Army, which is mysteriously without Zekrom, is marching toward this very fortress!”

            Reshiram looked enraged, but she rapidly calmed herself. She then replied, “We will leave only the minimum necessary forces here to stall them, in that case. I assume that Lugia now knows what we are planning and will whatever she can to oppose our efforts. We will depart from the northeastern coast of this continent as soon as we can! We will also take as many of our forces as we can with us, only leaving as many troops here as to stall the Idealist Army long enough that they will not be able to try and move to the island before the signal begins broadcasting!”

            Cresselia then added, “Of course, Lady Reshiram, I will begin making preparations for evacuation at your command. You know, the technology we are using to build our transmitter tower, which will finally ensure peace in this world, was taken from the human’s Poké-Balls. I find it gloriously ironic that the technology once used to control our kind for sport is now going to be used for the greater good, not for selfish satisfaction.”

            Reshiram nodded enthusiastically, saying, “What we do is for the greater good. All of the sacrifices that we make, including free will itself, are for the greater good. Now, prepare for our evacuation, we will be traveling to the construction site starting today!”     

            Cresselia then bowed to Reshiram and replied, “Of course, Lady Reshiram. I will inform our forces stationed here immediately.” She then left the throne room.

            Reshiram then thought, as she was picking up her map and preparing to leave her throne room for the last time, “You will not stop me, Lugia! I may be a sinner myself, but my success in this plan will mean the end of sin on this world!

\---

            Back in the cave network base, Sven and his squad-mates were walking in to the central chamber where Mew was talking with Lugia. Entei, who had reunited with Raikou and Suicune, was waiting to speak with Lugia. Sven and his allies overheard Lugia asking Mew, “Before we get back to the subject of this other powerful Pokémon, did you actually do anything to contact Kelly and the P.A.G.?”

            Mew smiled and replied, “Yes, I did just that. I even showed her how to find what she has been looking for…and before you ask if that helps us at all, it should help us immensely.”

            Lugia smiled awkwardly and nodded her head, she then said, “You are so cryptic, Mew. Anyway, is this other powerful Pokémon Regigigas, the ancient Golem Pokémon that is still said to sleep under the central mountain?”

            Mew simply nodded yes and then added, “While I was still in the tube, as my mind was wandering and watching the Protectorate’s activities, I saw that they had been gathering the three pieces needed to unlock the ancient tomb where Regigigas is sleeping. They seem to be awaiting the arrival of someone, to try and open the tomb. Regigigas will not listen to just anyone, so I think they are awaiting the arrival of one of their Legendary Pokémon.”

            Lugia then replied, as Samara was looking for Raikou and her squad-mates had stopped to hear the exchange, “Well, we know that the Protectorate has Reshiram at its head, her two servants Latias and Latios and the nightmare Pokémon, Darkrai as their head of interrogation. Any of them could command Regigigas if a Legendary Pokémon is what’s needed.”

            Mew then quickly exclaimed, “Actually, they have one more. Cresselia, the Legendary Moon Pokémon, is both the leader of their military, under Reshiram, and their head medic. She has been serving Reshiram because she wants to see a world without suffering, or at least without any intentionally inflicted suffering. Darkrai seems to have joined up with Reshiram because he started to feel guilty about his own existence and wants to ‘become perfect.’ Either way, we should make a plan to move on the tomb soon. That way, we can try to get there before they can harness the service of Regigigas.”

            Lugia then told Mew, “If I remember correctly, the tomb is not far from our base. We will move on it starting tomorrow morning. Then, we will either deny our enemies the use of the ancient golem, or we will be able to use it to batter down the gates of the new base they have built on the mountain.”

            Mew then replied, “Alright, I will be off to inform the others now, I think that Entei wishes to speak with you.”

            Mew then floated off as Lugia turned to Entei, he told her, “My Lady, I have carried out your orders. I have sent out Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres to inform our various surviving branches to either do whatever they can to stall the moving of building materials and soldiers to the central mountain or to abandon their positions and come to reinforce us here. Suicune and Raikou are trying to organize our Pokémon in the camps above.”

            As Samara set of for the plains above, after having heard Entei’s last sentence, Lugia told Entei, “We are moving out tomorrow, you will be going with us this time. We will only leave a few Pokémon here to guard the base. If we can secure or defeat Regigigas at the tomb, we will then march against Reshiram’s troops on the mountain. Hopefully any of our allies on this island who are able will come to aid us. We will need every Pokémon we can to bring that tower down!”    

            Entei then responded, “Of course, my Lady. We must put an end to the Protectorate now that they have been weakened. We will not simply stand by and allow them to enslave our minds!”

            Lugia nodded and then headed off herself. Sven then left his comrades to go and find Daphne. Amber headed off to find Joel, who had been insistent that his evolution into a Salamence was imminent.  

            The next morning, after Lugia’s three servants retuned from delivering orders to the secondary branches, over sixty Pokémon set off towards the tomb. Lugia was airborne, and leading the way. The two Recon Squads were both in the front lines of the advancing force.

            Within a couple of days, the Western Resistance and their allies reached the western foothills of the central mountain. They saw a large number of Protectorate Pokémon, totaling around fifty, gathered around a massive stone double door. The door had been opened and led deep into the foothill.

            As soon as the opposing force saw Lugia’s Pokémon closing in on them, they scrambled a large number of flyers. As the ground forces closed in on each other, Sven could see Latias and Latios leading the Protectorate’s flyers against, Lugia, her three servants and their airborne troops. As a vicious dogfight began in the skies above the foothills, Entei called out to the two Recon squads, “We will clear a path through their troops. You all need to get inside the tomb and see if you can defeat any enemies that have gotten inside. Most importantly, you need to secure Regigigas!”

            Joel and Samara nodded and then led their respective squads forward into the fray. Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Arya and others focused their attacks on the center of the Protectorate formation. Their powerful blasts managed to drop a few of the Protectorate’s soldiers. Then, Sven used a Water Pulse; Samara finally unleashed a Discharge attack, and the other recon squad members focused on taking out whatever enemies they could. The main ground force of the Western Resistance then rushed the Protectorate formation. Daphne, who was among the resistance fighters, shouted, “Take whatever opportunity you can get to make it through! Do not let them seize the golem!”

            Sven, who was still following the squad leaders as they pushed forward, then focused on an enemy Monferno and channeled his energy into a series of high-pressure blades of water that formed between his hands. He then fired three Water Shruiken into the foe, downing him.

            After another barrage of attacks hit the center of the Protectorate frontline, it began to be forced into two groups of soldiers. Samara then dashed into the breach and was followed by her allies. She blasted a Discharge into the enemies all around her and kept going. Sven simply rushed in behind Amber and Maurice to catch up with them, not bothering to waste time with another attack.

            Once the two recon squads had made it through the enemy line, their allies kept up the pressure so as to make it difficult for any serious pursuit to occur.

            Samara and Joel led their units into the tomb, after running past the enemy’s unoccupied campsite, which they had left unguarded when the battle had been joined. They found inside of the tomb that torches had been lit on the walls, dimly illuminating the area. The units continued deeper into the structure until they entered an antechamber, which seemed to lead into a much larger room. Once there, they saw a Sinless Piloswine and a pair of Sinless Swinub awaiting them. Miranda said, “I will target the one in the middle…”

            As Miranda was about to continue, a number of Gastly and Haunter emerged from the walls and surrounded the eight Pokémon. Samara immediately used another Discharge to temporarily repulse the ghostly enemies, and then shouted, “Attack at will, bring them all down!”

            Joel led his squad to attack the Piloswine and his Swinub, with Miranda deploying her Flamethrower move on their leader, Amber gripped her Mega-Stone, Mega Evolved and then fired an Energy Ball into a Haunter. Then, Maurice finished him off with a Dragon Breath. Sven rushed at a Gastly, and leaped up into the air. He then used a Lick to bring the foe down.

            Miles and Chloe each decided to use a Psybeam to knock out a Gastly, as Joel bravely dueled the pair of Swinub and Miranda took on the Piloswine.

            After the Ghostly Pokémon and their porcine allies counterattacked, injuring a number of the Resistance’s Pokémon, Miles, Chloe, Maurice, and Samara were able to down the remaining ghosts.

            Sven and Amber focused their attacks on downing the two Swinub. Miranda and Joel then used Flamethrower and Ember, respectively to take out the Piloswine.

            With their enemies cleared out, Joel shouted, “We have no time to lose. We need to get inside that chamber!”

            Samara and Joel, once again led the way as the eight Pokémon rushed into the tomb’s main chamber. When they arrived, they saw only one enemy.

            The chamber was quite tall and lit with a number of torches. The kneeling figure of a massive white and gold Pokémon stood dormant in the center of the room. In front of it was Cresselia, who was nodding her head impatiently and facing away from the intruders. She, not realizing who was behind her, said, “Go and get Latias and Latios, we apparently need at least three Legendary Pokémon to awaken and command the golem. …I hear no ‘Yes Ma’am’…”

            Cresselia then turned around and staggered back when she saw the recon squads. She shouted, “Oh great, resistance fighters.” Then, she immediately fired off an Aurora beam into Maurice’s head.

            Maurice fainted from the shot and then Samara shouted, “Whoever that is, take her out!”

            Cresselia recoiled as she was bombarded with a number of attacks, including a Lick from Sven and a Shadow Sneak from Miles. Samara even ran up and used Bite on her. Amber had Mega-Evolved, again, before using her Energy Ball on Cresselia.

            Cresselia then launched herself into the air and sniped Amber with a second Aurora Beam. Amber was felled by the move.

            As Cresselia was severely weakened by a second barrage of attacks, this time all of them ranged, Joel ran over to the fallen Amber’s side. Enraged, he fired a Dragon Breath into Cresselia’s head, causing her to faint and then slowly fall to the ground, as her levitation gave out.

            Samara then ordered Reviver Seeds to be given to Amber and Maurice. Joel said, “We should go and help our allies win the battle outside. We now know what we need to wake Regigigas up and command it.”

            Samara nodded as Joel then began to glow. He shouted “Yes!” as he evolved from Shelgon to Salamence.

            The two recon squads returned to the battlefield to find that their allies had cleared out the enemy troops. However, there was no sign of either Latias or Latios.

            They, after looking over the destroyed enemy camp, located and approached Entei, Raikou and Suicune, who were talking with Arya. Joel flew briefly into the air and then landed in front of his superiors. He was around the size of the Legendary Beasts now. Samara then walked up to Raikou and reported, “My Lord, we entered the tomb and then dispatched the enemy soldiers guarding it. When we reached the center, we found Regigigas and learned that three Legendary Pokémon are needed to awaken it, before it can be commanded. Also, we defeated a Protectorate Pokémon who seemed unique. She was pink, yellow and blue and floating in the air, like Mew does.”

            Mew then floated down to the group and said, “I heard my name mentioned. More importantly, it seems like you all knocked out Cresselia herself. She could be a very valuable prisoner. …I suggest getting a high-power inhibitor collar for her by any means necessary, ideally before she wakes up.”

            Suicune ordered Rachel and Thomas, who were in command of the other resistance troops, to search the camp for inhibitors. Then, Miranda asked, “Where are Lugia and her three servants? I do not see them anywhere around here.”

            Entei responded, “They went off to pursue the fleeing Latias and Latios. Those two fled after they saw that they were outnumbered and out powered.”

            After Entei gave his explanation, the two Recon Squads managed to help find an inhibitor collar from the camp to use on Cresselia. Then, they reentered the tomb, along with the Legendary Beasts and Arya. After collaring the still-unconscious Cresselia and looking at some of her notes. Entei, Raikou and Suicune had Arya keep watch for them in the antechamber. The two recon squads were stationed just outside the door to the tomb.

            After waiting for an hour, they heard the sound of massive wings flapping. All of them looked up and saw Lugia returning to them. However, only Articuno and Zapdos accompanied her.        

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers, I just want to let you all know that work has been finished on my spiritual successor story. I still plan to post "Ruination" right after this story is fully posted. You might not hear much from me for a while once my spiritual successor is fully posted, seeing as though that might be my last PMD story for a while. Anyway, this story is at least almost done being posted. Thank you all for reading.


	28. Preparing for the Final Operation

Lugia, Articuno and Zapdos landed in front of the two recon squads. Lugia then surveyed the battlefield and saw that the majority of her forces were nearby. She then asked the two squads, “Where are the Legendary Beasts and Arya? I need to speak with them immediately!”

            Samara replied, “My Lady, they are all inside, we have captured Cresselia and they are preparing to awaken Regigigas.”

            As Lugia was about to reply to Samara, Mew floated down and asked, “I believe that you had one more associate, Moltres. Where is she?”

            Lugia sighed and then told Mew and the others, “While pursuing Latios and Latias, we flew all the way to the enemy base on the mountain. It looked like the construction on it was nearing completion. They started firing at us with a number of missile launchers and flak cannons, when we got close. When Latias and Latios ducked under a wall, to try shake us off, Moltres pursued them as the rest of us were turning away. We saw her get knocked out of the sky by an Ancient Power move, possibly from Reshiram herself. Either way, if we had tried to retrieve her, we would have been shot down as well. From what we know, she is now their prisoner. At least we have an important prisoner of our own now.”

            At that point, the ground began to shake heavily. The vibrations seemed to be coming from the tomb. All of the Pokémon who were present turned to the tomb’s entrance. Not long after the vibrations ceased, Arya and the three Legendary Beasts walked out of the tomb. A loud stomping noise could be heard coming from behind them. Raikou looked up at Lugia and said, “My Lady, the golem is under our control, it will be here shortly. I wonder if the reason that the ritual required three Legendary Pokémon is referencing the fabled trio of lesser golems which are thought to exist…where is Moltres?”

            Arya then saw the look on Lugia’s face and asked, a bit of panic in her voice, “Is she dead? What happened?”

            Articuno then told Arya, “She was shot down over the enemy’s base. We believe that they have probably captured her.”

            Entei looked somewhat concerned, as Suicune was ordering Rachel and Thomas to go and retrieve Cresselia from the tomb before she could finally wake up. As Arya looked deeply worried, they saw Regigigas exiting the tomb through the main gate. The ancient golem instinctively bowed to Lugia and then said, in a mechanical voice, “I am at your service. What do you wish of me?”

            Lugia looked the golem in its eyes and replied, “Regigigas, we want you to help us to batter down a gate. Two of the Pokémon who woke you up will escort you to it soon enough.”

            Regigigas bowed to Lugia again and then said, “I can help you to destroy this gate. I will await further orders.”

            After Daphne walked over to the group of Pokémon and marveled at Regigigas, who was still standing, but had become perfectly still, Joel asked, “What is our plan then? It seems like their mind control tower is nearly finished! We cannot afford to waste any time here!”

            Lugia nodded and replied, “I see that you have evolved, Joel…Anyway, you are correct. Tomorrow, we will begin moving on the mountain base where the Protectorate has built their transmitter tower. I will have Mew, Arya and our other Legendary Pokémon come up with a battle plan. We will obviously have Regigigas at the vanguard of our main force, which will attack the base directly. As for me, I will be interrogating Cresselia.”

            As Lugia was finishing up her statement, Rachel and Thomas arrived, they were marching Cresselia out of the tomb. The inhibitor collar that Cresselia was wearing prevented her from floating too high into the air by limiting the amount of psychic energy that she could exert at once. Lugia looked down at Cresselia and then said, “I think that we need to have a talk. I would advise not resisting. I will not show that much mercy to anyone who supports my brother’s killer.”

            Cresselia simply nodded and then replied, “Your, admittedly justified, grudge will not matter in less than a week. Reshiram will activate the transmitter tower and then the world will finally be completely at peace. “

            Lugia then marched Cresselia to a nearby area, as Sven and Daphne headed off to talk privately.

            When Sven and Daphne found an area nearby where they could talk privately, Daphne began, “Well, it seems like we are closing in on the Western Resistance’s last battle. I know that the Lady Lugia will want to carry out her vengeance against Reshiram, but I still wish there was a way to convince the Protectorate of the harm that they are really doing by trying to end free will. I have to admit, and do not tell this to anyone else, I am concerned for what will happen to my original family, if we defeat the Protectorate.”

            Sven, who had been listening patiently to what his love was saying, responded, “From what I know, you cannot pick your family. However, to be honest, I doubt that there is much chance for reconciliation in your case. I am saying that because I love you and I don’t want to lie to you, Daphne. Regardless, I am determined to do my best in the battle to come. Allowing that signal to transmit is, in my opinion, akin to what I have been afraid of from the start.”

            Daphne then asked, “You mean being reprogrammed by the Protectorate? I know that that has been your greatest fear for a long time.”

            Sven nodded and then, changing the subject, asked, “Do you think that you will have to march with the others when we assault the mountain?”

            Daphne replied, “Yes, we will need everyone that we can get! It will be somewhat emotionally painful to attack the place where we were once based, though. Thankfully, we have Regigigas on our side. It should be able to draw a lot of fire from the enemy as we advance up the mountain road.”

            Sven nodded and then said, “Anyway, we should try not to worry about what is to come. I am just glad that we managed to get together. Let’s enjoy what time together we have left before the offensive begins.”

            Daphne nodded and then she passionately kissed Sven. The two of them embraced gently.

\---

            That evening, Lugia had marched the captive Cresselia away from the bulk of her forces. Zapdos and Articuno were not far away, however. They were circling in the air, on the lookout for any Protectorate units who might appear to attack the resistance camp. Lugia glared down at Cresselia and then asked, “Do you know when the tower will be ready to broadcast? If you do, you must tell me now! Reshiram is completely insane and has to be stopped. I believe that she simply wants to rule over all Pokémon, using the signal to force compliance with her whims. What she is trying to do is tantamount to usurping Arceus!”

            Cresselia simply nodded her head no and the told Lugia, “Reshiram is not who you think she is, my Lady. She does not desire to become the mistress of our kind. Even if you believe that free will is worth preserving, you should not deny her altruistic motivations because she slew one who was close to you.”

            Lugia then shook with rage and told Cresselia, “I despise even the idea of torture of any kind…I suffered it multiple times in the past. However, I will get the information that I want from you, for the good of all Pokémon. Now, when is the transmitter tower going to be online?”

            Cresselia simply replied, “If you must know, it should only be around four days, or less, until it will begin broadcasting. I believe that the tower’s defenses will stop any attack that you try to make on it. You will not be able to destroy the tower and the Herald Reshiram will bring this planet into a new era of moral perfection. I would strongly advise you to not waste the lives of your followers trying to stop the end of sin.”

            Lugia then screamed at Cresselia, “Reshiram needs to be stopped! I do want anyone else but her to die, but I will do whatever it takes to both kill her and protect the minds of our kind. You have been deluded by her insane ideology! My forces will march on the tower starting tomorrow! …I assume that you will not tell me what defenses the tower base has other than the ones I have already seen.”

            Cresselia nodded and then told Lugia, as she was turning away, “You are a very driven Pokémon, Lugia. I must say, though, that your desire for revenge against Reshiram has clouded your judgment.”

            Lugia then turned around and lowered her head so as to place it right next to Cresselia, she said, slowly and clearly, “Ho-oh was so much to me…he was the only family I ever had. I loved him like he was my biological brother. What is still more important than avenging him is that your ‘Protectorate’ is reduced to rubble and we are all free of it! Even if your so-called herald had not killed my brother, I would still give it my all to shut down her mad plan! She is NOT a good Pokémon, Cresselia, she is exactly what she hates so much!”

            Cresselia sighed and then replied, “She fights to end suffering and sin. That makes up for all the evil that she has done, in my mind.”

            Lugia then sternly told Cresselia, “This conversation is over! Goodnight!”

            Zapdos and Articuno were called down to escort Cresselia into the tomb, where they would find a place to contain her for the time being.

\---

            The next day, a couple of the resistance’s weakest Pokémon were ordered to take Cresselia back to the cave network base. Everyone else was ordered to move out, towards the base of the mountain.

            Over the course of the next day, the Western Resistance marched to the mountain’s base. The members of their other branches joined them, as they were marching. Apparently, the Protectorate had abandoned most of their hold on the coastal towns around the island. It looked like they were moving all of their Sinless and most of their Aspiring to the tower base.

            The next day, the resistance force, which contained over seventy Pokémon, reached the base of the mountain. They made a series of camps in the southern foothills. When they had made camp, they were joined by a number of other Pokémon who had come to help them fight, now that the Protectorate presence in the coastal towns had been massively reduced. Among the newest batch of arrivals were Largo and a number of Oceankin Town’s guards and citizens. All of the Pokémon present came to a total of slightly over ninety. However, they were sure that their enemy would have more Pokémon, plus a strong defensive advantage at their concrete and metal fortress. Of course, the resistance had the advantage of having eight Legendary Pokémon on their side, that was double the Protectorate’s four.

            That evening, Lugia laid out the battle plan for the assault that was to commence the next day. She told her amassed followers, “As for the main bulk of our attack, Regigigas will be in the front, with Entei and Raikou covering the golem from alongside it. Then, the vast majority of our Pokémon, led by Rachel and Thomas, will be behind them. The main force will advance rapidly up the mountain road until they reach the gates of the tower base. Regigigas will then break those gates down, allowing our troops to pour in. Once they have, hopefully, dispatched the enemies in what was once our mountain fortress, they will advance northward and upward to try and reach the upper base, where the transmitter tower is actually located. The flight-capable Pokémon among our main force will focus on taking out airborne enemies and defensive turrets, while the main force battles the enemy troops on the ground and the walls.”

            Suicune then asked, “I assume that there will be a secondary force as well, one that it seems I will be a part of. What will we do?”           

            Lugia then replied, “I will be leading Articuno and Zapdos on a flight above the mountain. The two recon squads, Arya, Mew and you, Suicune, will join us. You will use your control of wind to dash up the mountainside at such speed that their turrets should find it hard to track you. The recon squads’ members, and Arya, who cannot fly will be airlifted, of course. Our job will be to reach the upper base and try to attack and destroy the tower and its defenses. We will have a high chance of engaging Reshiram and her three legendary servants, Darkrai, Latias and Latios, when we arrive. Also, we will try to liberate Moltres from their custody, if she is still alive.”

            Suicune nodded as Articuno finished, “Our main goals for this mission will be to destroy the transmitter tower and also kill Reshiram. If we can accomplish both of those, we should be able to cripple the Protectorate to the point where they will be unable to recover. Get some rest tonight, we march tomorrow morning as soon as the sun rises!”

            The amassed Pokémon all nodded or saluted and they all then prepared to rest. Daphne and Sven shared one last kiss before the battle, before going to rest in separate tents.

            The next morning, Regigigas took its place in front of the resistance formation, which began to advance on the first gate of the tower base.


	29. The Second Battle of Central Mountain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, the final non-epilogue chapter of the final main ROC story. There is some crazy stuff in this chapter, that I can assure you. Anyway, only one more chapter of this story to go and then Ruination goes up, probably starting a week from today. After that, my spiritual successor PMD story will begin posting. Thank you all for reading so far. This series is almost complete!

At the top of the tower base, Moltres stood in a cell. It was quite large, allowing her room to pace around with her shackled feet. Her wings were also bound with power inhibitors, which acted like handcuffs, forcing her wings in front of her in a slightly lowered position. The inhibitors had temporarily extinguished the fires that blazed out of her body. Moltres then walked up to the bars of her cell and looked out at the open area in front of her. She could only wonder how the Protectorate had managed to build such a quality structure using building materials that would not be easily available to Pokémon. She looked over to the north end of the yard and saw what she knew was the Protectorate’s transmitter tower. The steel structure has a number of flashing lights on it, and had an open area at its base. The open area looked easily big enough to contain a massive Pokémon and had a number of lights, that were all dimly lit, on its ceiling.

            As Moltres continued to examine the tower, she thought of how she had heard that it could be active by the end of the day, or the next day, at the latest. Moltres then heard a female voice say, “It will not be long now, the tower will broadcast its signal and then bring about the end of sin. You should consider yourself lucky that you got captured because your allies are marching on this base as we speak. They will not be able to destroy this tower, and many of them will suffer and die trying, unfortunately.”

            Moltres turned to see that it was Latias who had just spoken to her. She was floating just outside of the cell. Moltres glared at Latias and then said to her, “You need to realize that your lady is crazy! If Pokémon are forced to make the ‘right’ choice, then the choice does not matter. What Reshiram is trying to do will eliminate both evil and good! As for my allies, I have great faith in the Lady Lugia. If anyone can destroy the tower, than she can!”

            Latias nodded her head and sighed deeply, she then said, “Once the tower begins broadcasting, you will be free to go. Violence and intentionally created suffering will soon be at their end. I believe that in the world that we will create, there will be plenty of good, just no evil.”

            Latias then floated off to talk with her brother, Latios. Moltres could now see that Reshiram was talking with Darkrai close to the tower’s base.

\---

            Reshiram looked down at Darkrai and asked him, “Are you sure that the Western Resistance captured Cresselia?”

            Darkrai, responded, “Yes, My Herald. They also seem to have secured the service of Regigigas, according to our scout units. It looks like they will attack our position here this evening.”

            Reshiram then sighed and said, “Then, it seems as thought one more battle is unavoidable, I cannot allow Lugia, or any of her followers, to kill me. That much I know. Prepare all of our defenders on the lower levels to hold them for as long as possible. As for us, I suspect, based on what we know of her tactics, that Lugia will come here to assault the tower itself. You, Latias, Latios and all of the troops we can spare will join me here. We cannot allow Lugia’s troops access to the generators that we have placed directly below this platform! Destroying them is the only way, which I can conceive of, to destroy the tower itself.”

            Darkrai then asked, “I am well aware of the tower’s energy shields. When do you think that it will be active, my Lady?”

            Reshiram replied, ”Our engineers assure me that it will be fully operational tonight. At midnight, I intend to finish the Protectorate’s mission. You will, of course, join me in doing that.”

            Darkrai bowed to Reshiram and then solemnly said to her, “It is, as you have said, the only way. I will be ready to help you make this world devoid of evil, my Herald.”

            Reshiram then bowed back to Darkrai and added, “Tomorrow, the Protectorate will cease to exist. And so will sin.”           

               Darkrai nodded and then went off to check on the engineers’ status.

\---

            That late afternoon, the main force of the Western Resistance was approaching the massive gate that the Protectorate had built in front of the former mountain fortress. Suicune was dashing up the side of the mountain and Lugia, Zapdos and Articuno were flying in formation with Joel, Maurice and Mew just behind them.

            As Regigigas approached the first main gate, a pair of Gatling machine guns appeared from atop the metal towers flanking the gate proper. They bombarded Regigigas with gunfire, but the ancient golem’s armored skin resisted most of the shots. Entei and Raikou then rushed the gate and started to blast the turrets. With the help of the resistance’s flying Pokémon, they destroyed the turrets and then Regigigas was able to reach the gate and push right through it.

            Then, as Regigigas entered the main courtyard of the lower base, a swarm of Sinless and Aspiring attacked the golem. However, they were countered by the resistance troops rushing into the courtyard.

            Lugia, who was being ridden by Sven, Samara, Miles and Chloe, shouted, “We are going to disengage now and head up to the upper base. Let’s hope our allies can get there eventually. Be on the lookout for turrets, everyone!”

            As Suicune continued to dash up the mountainside and Zapdos, Articuno and Joel carried Miranda, Arya and Amber respectively higher up into the sky, Mew said to Lugia, “Just so you know, the P.A.G. is coming to help us. They found what they were looking for.”

            As Maurice, who was flying next to Mew, looked a bit skeptical, Lugia shouted back from the head of the formation, “Ok, I hope that they get here fast then. Reshiram probably had to weaken her blockade to transfer more of her units up here.”

            The flight had to destroy a few turrets on the path up to the upper base, as well as take down a few small squadrons of flying Sinless. However, they were able to reach the upper base platform and see the massive transmitter tower jutting upwards from its north-most side.

            Lugia was puzzled to see no Pokémon or turrets trying to engage them. However, she saw Reshiram, Darkrai, Latias and Latios below, on the platform. When she saw Moltres chained up in her cell, she dived and her allies followed her down. Suicune ran up at blinding speed and leapt into the air. She landed on the platform’s southern side, where Lugia and the other flying Pokémon landed and allowed their passengers to disembark. Reshiram then told Lugia, “I had a strong feeling that we would face off here, so I made sure that I would be here to await you personally. You should know that I cannot allow you to win this battle, too much is at stake.”

            Lugia then shouted back, “Reshiram, you are either a liar, or a lunatic…or both. I know that you just want to use that tower to force all other Pokémon to submit to you. Even if you believe that you are worthy of ruling over our kind, your actions prove how unworthy you really are!”

            Reshiram sighed and then replied, “I have been aware of my unworthiness for quite some time now, actually. You see, before the transmitter tower can become active, it needs an initial boost of power in order to take control of the world’s Pokémon’s minds. Darkrai and I will supply that boost by sacrificing ourselves to the machine! I know how much evil I have done, Lugia, I intend to redeem myself my putting an end to sin! There will be no place for any severe sinners in the new world, all Pokémon who have committed serious crimes will take their own lives once the signal reaches their minds! Of course, just in case anything goes wrong, the only two Pokémon who the signal will not affect, Latias and Latios will be there to oversee the world after my death…”

            Lugia had allowed Reshiram to keep speaking because she had been in shock over the revelation that Reshiram intended to sacrifice herself in order to finish her plan. She then regained her composure and shouted back, “So, why do you think that your twin allies will prove worthy to watch over the world?”

            Reshiram smiled, nodded to Latias and Latios and then explained, “Because, they owe me their lives. You see, they were once Dragonite twins who served as elite agents in my army, before there was even a Protectorate in its current state. Zekrom grew so tired of them that he hunted down and killed them both himself. When their bodies were delivered to me, I took them to the ancient temple, which you must be aware of, and resurrected them into their current forms. So, they serve me with complete loyalty. I believe that they will continue to do so, even after my death!”

            Moltres, who had been observing the verbal exchange through her cell’s bars shouted to her allies, “She is going to activate the tower at midnight. It’s already getting darker, you need to stop her!”

            Reshiram shook her head and said, “Maybe that was not the best place to put the high security prison cell. Regardless, it is time for free will to finally perish! Tonight…”

            At that point, Sven hopped in front of Lugia and shouted, “Reshiram, you are out of your mind! Our imperfections make us beautiful! You fail to realize how pointless and boring a perfect world would be! Maybe that is why Arceus made Pokémon as imperfect creatures! As for me, even thought I now know that it was not accident, I like being ‘defective.’ Now, you need to stop your narrow-minded crusade before anybody else gets hurt!”

            After Mew smiled and nodded at Sven and his other allies, including Lugia, gave him approving looks, Reshiram whistled and around twenty-five Sinless rushed out from a series of passages beneath the platform. Also, the short towers on each corner of the platform’s wall each opened up their square-shaped tops to reveal a four-barreled missile launcher turret. Reshiram then declared, “All of you should surrender now! No one else has to die or suffer here. Just back down and I will get what is coming to me and peace will reign throughout the world!”

            Mew then focused inward, her eyes glowed pink and she shouted, “As the humans used to say… The cavalry is coming!”

            Almost immediately after Mew quieted herself four rocket-powered missiles came down from the above the clouds. They each locked onto a launcher turret, collided with them and then detonated. All four of the missile turrets exploded, as a huge metal craft descended from the sky and floated up in the air just south of the platform. The vehicle was flying through unknown means and was shaped like a filled-in U with the rounded end facing forward. A cockpit/bridge poked out from the top of the aircraft near the front, as well as a series of four missile launchers. The craft had the symbol of the Pokémon Adventurers Guild hastily painted on its front. Also, the name “Akira” was painted on both sides of the craft in gold-colored paint. A pair of loudspeakers emerged from the front of the gunship, flanking where the Guild symbol was painted. As everyone stared up at the Akira in disbelief, a female voice called out from the loudspeakers, “As our ancestors once did, we in the P.A.G. have come to the aid of the Lady Lugia! Now, this ancient weapon of humanity will be used to preserve the freedom of all Pokémon!”

            As Lugia looked up, still in disbelief, she shouted, “That is Kelly’s voice! Mew, you were right! Now, engage the enemy, everyone!”

            Lugia then blasted Reshiram with an Aeroblast and the two groups of Pokémon charged at each other. Lugia’s followers all used their best area effecting moves as Zapdos flew up into the air and used a Discharge nearby Moltres’s cell. Her inhibitors fell away and then she used a Heat Wave to melt her cell’s bars and injure a few foes outside of her cell. Suicune targeted Latias, as Articuno targeted Latios.

            Reshiram fired a Fusion Flare into the mass of her enemies as Darkrai led the Sinless into battle. Latios and Latias responded to the attacks on them with powerful psychic attacks.

            As more and more Sinless poured out of the passages to replace their fallen comrades, The Akira deployed four more missile turrets from its bottom as well as six three-barreled machine gun turrets. The machine guns focused on the Sinless and Aspiring who were stationed below, trying to halt the advance of the main resistance force. The missile turrets focused their fire on the remaining Protectorate turrets below. The remaining turrets then targeted the Akira, however a shield of pink energy absorbed all of those attacks.

            Then, as the resistance’s main force was able to step up its advance below, moving closer to the upper base, the Akira fired another four-missile barrage at the transmitter tower. Reshiram was not concerned, though, as a series of circular devices on the tower than flashed and a pink shield protected the tower from the Akira’s missiles.

            Reshiram, after blasting Moltres, who was flying out of her cell, with a Dragon Breath, shouted, “You will not be able to breach the tower’s shields!”

            The Akira then fired one last barrage of rockets to destroy the last of the Protectorate’s turrets. As its machineguns were still peppering the Sinless and Aspiring below, it rapidly flew up to the transmitted tower and its front hatch, where the symbol had been painted, opened up.

            On the platform, Sven and his squad were doing their best to take out the Sinless who were emerging from one of the passages. Samara kept emitting Discharge attacks, while Maurice used Ancient Power on some of the foes. Amber, who had Mega-Evolved, like the other similarly capable Pokémon in the battle, was fighting on the frontline with her Leaf Blade, using her new Giga Drain move to heal herself. Sven was using Bounce to get high up into the air and then crash down on the strongest looking enemies.

            Joel and his unit were battling more Sinless on the other side of the platform. Miranda was sniping the enemies with Flamethrower attacks. Joel had Mega-Evolved and was engaging the flying foes in the area. Miles was covering the others in close quarters combat. Lastly, Chloe was dousing the area with her own Water Pulse attacks.

            Arya was helping Lugia by protecting her from the Sinless advancing across the middle of the platform. She continued to breathe out Inferno attacks at the oncoming hoard. As for Lugia herself, she was circling in the air and sniping at Reshiram with Hydro Pump attacks. Moltres and Mew were flying across the battlefield, attacking targets of opportunity. Zapdos was attacking Darkrai and Suicune, as well as Articuno were still fighting the draconic twins.

            As Reshiram was trying to coordinate her troops, she saw the Akira fly up close to the transmitter tower with its hatch open. She fired a Fusion Flare at the Akira, but it was partially evaded by the Gunship, allowing its shields to hold. Then, Kelly’s voice came through again, shouting, “This tower will never transmit! Fire the grappling claw!”

            An energized claw on a thick cable was shot out of the front of the Akira; it then collided with the tower’s shield. In an instant, the Akira channeled the energy from its own shield through the special cable and into the claw. The excess energy channeled into the tower’s shield, causing the shield generators to become overcharged and explode.

            Reshiram’s jaw dropped as the battle raged around her. She then saw the Akira fire another missile barrage into the now unshielded tower’s top. The tower’s transmitting device exploded violently, the explosion taking out most of the upper part of the tower.

            The explosion sent the now-unshielded Akira spinning out of control. Reshiram, her soldiers still fighting the resistance screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOO! You have ruined everything we have strived for!”

            Reshiram then launched herself into the air at the Akira still screaming in rage. As Arya and Mew covered her, Lugia launched herself into the air and then pursued Reshiram.

            As Reshiram approached the Akira, determined to attack its bridge, bullets from the spinning gunship’s turrets mostly bounced off her hide. The ones that stuck barely registered in her mind. As she neared the gunship, a Hydro Pump struck her. It had come from Lugia. Reshiram then slowed down and Lugia caught up to her and grabbed her from behind.

            Lugia struck Reshiram with an Ancient Power and then held onto her as they both fell to the ground.

            As the two Recon squads had both managed to clear the Sinless out from the passages they were covering, Latias, Latios and Darkrai were still locked in furious battles with Suicune, Articuno and Zapdos. Then, Lugia and Reshiram both fell into the center of the platform. Arya tried to hold off the surviving Sinless, with Mew’s help, as Reshiram slowly stood over Lugia, who had taken the bulk of the fall’s impact. Reshiram then shrieked, “Lugia, you have been in the way of moral perfection for too long! Now, you will join your brother, DIE!”

            As Lugia was still dazed and nearly dead from the fall, Reshiram, who was covered bye her minions, conjured an Ancient Power attack. Reshiram then prepared to slam the boulders into Lugia. Darkrai and some airborne Sinless blocked Zapdos from reaching his Lady. He looked at the one he loved, who seemed to be about to die.

            Sven and Arya stepped forward, but they ran into more Sinless, who they had to fight through. Then, Sven saw Moltres flying through the air, taking attacks from Latias and Latios before they were finally brought down by Suicune, Articuno and the recon squads’ ranged attacks. Moltres then withstood attacks from a number of Sinless, as she felt faint she soared between Lugia and Reshiram and took the Ancient Power attack at just the right time.

            Moltres dropped out of the air, dead. Lugia then looked at her follower’s corpse and then was able to slowly stand up, she then screamed at the stunned Reshiram and blasted her with her own Ancient Power.

            Reshiram was then forced back. She was now staggering and clinging to life herself. Arya then, with help from Mew and the recon squads cleared a path for Sven, who then rushed up to where Reshiram was. Lugia was still exhausted, as Zapdos blasted his way through the airborne Sinless to reach her. Then, Reshiram glared down at Sven and collapsed. Sven then walked over to her as Lugia was still teetering. He said to her, “I would not exist if it were not for you…still, I will not show mercy here. Goodbye, ‘Herald.’”

            Sven channeled his Water Shruiken and then blasted five of them into Reshiram’s neck. She looked up into the sky and breathed out her last breath.

            The remaining Sinless all froze, Darkrai then blasted the area near him with Ominous Wind, shouting, “The herald is dead! Avenge her at all costs!”  

            The remaining Sinless all rallied to Darkrai, their numbers were now severely thinned, however they were determined to slay Lugia and as many of her troops as possible. Then, Lugia simply stood up and smiled.

            A pair of waves of energy rippled through the area right after Lugia stood up, dropping the remaining Sinless and badly wounding Darkrai. A portal had opened up behind Darkrai and from it emerged a pair of draconic Pokémon of immense size. Darkrai turned and then saw Dialga and Palkia. A voice then echoed in the minds of all the present Pokémon as the Akira finally stabilized and continued bombarding the Protectorate soldiers below it. The voice, said, “Fear not my loyal children, for I am here. I foolishly allowed my creation to suffer and be nearly destroyed! Now… it is time for me to atone for my sins…And Vengeance. Is. Mine!”   

            A huge equine Pokémon emerged from the portal. The, mostly, white Pokémon floated in the air, crackling with energy. Seventeen plates were circling them. One of the plates, the Fist Plate then floated into the body of the Pokémon and was absorbed.

            Darkrai had frozen in place. He looked up in horror at his creator, Arceus. Arceus then exclaimed, “Feel my wrath!” The ancient God of Pokémon then charged up a meteor of energy above their body. They then used Judgment on Darkrai, who bowed his head and closed his eye, accepting his destruction, the massive pulse of divine energy annihilating the incarnation of nightmares.

            Arceus then quickly ordered Dialga and Palkia, “Go and help eradicate the other clone abominations. I believe that Rayquaza and Kyogre are destroying the so-called blockade as we speak, thanks to the Pokémon on that vehicle.”    

            Dialga and Palkia then warped to the battle below and Arceus floated over to the resistance, who had all instinctively bowed to them. Arya was terrified, but she tried not to show it. Arceus then told them, speaking in a surprisingly casual way “Sorry about arriving later then we should have. It looks like all three fragments of the western dragon are now dead. Anyway, I will not punish you, Arya. You are a good Pokémon; even if you are just misguided a bit. As for you, Mew, I am glad that your interference turned out so well. Sven here seems to have been quite a help to you all.”

            Sven blushed, relieved that Arceus was not going to destroy him for being a Sinless. Arya was just in a bit of shock, but still felt somewhat honored to have been called good by the original creator of Pokémon. Then, Arceus said, to Lugia in particular, “I think we have to finish off the Protectorate, before we discuss anything else. Once that is done, you should be honored, Lugia my daughter, you have led the forces of freedom well.”

            Lugia bowed to her creator, as Arceus nodded back at her.


	30. Epilogue: Fall of the Protectorate

Within the month following the destruction of the transmitter tower and the death of Reshiram, what remained of the Protectorate collapsed completely.

            As Arceus had stated, Kelly had convinced Rayquaza and Kyogre to lead hordes of wild Pokémon to destroy the Sinless blockading the skies and seas around the Western Continent and the island north of it. On the Western Continent, itself, William and Rowena led the Idealist Army to wipe out every last Sinless that remained and slay or arrest the remaining Aspiring. As for the northern island, the last few Sinless, who had been promised the end of their service if Reshiram was successful, were wiped out thanks to the Western Resistance, which was now under the authority of Arceus.

            The Aspiring who were left on the island, including Daphne’s parents were, for the most part, captured by their victorious enemies. Arceus personally decreed that every single one of the Aspiring who survived the war was to receive a trial and then be sentenced accordingly. Cresselia, Latias and Latios were all tried and, after asking for their lives to be spared, sentenced to high-security prison until such a time when it would be deemed that they should be released. The prison that they were sent to was located in Megapolis because it was decided that it would be too dangerous to the prisoner’s safety for them to be held in the area most affected by the war.

            After the small number of remaining Protectorate holdouts were dealt with, a grand funeral service was held for Ho-oh and Moltres at the ruins of what was once the mountain fortress. After the funeral, Arceus explained to Lugia that because of his ancient pact with Yveltal, and the need to keep death meaningful, they would not recover the souls of Ho-oh, Moltres, or any other Pokémon from the afterlife. Lugia was willing to accept what her creator told her.

            Daphne discovered her brother had died fighting as an Aspiring during the final battle on the mountain, she was present at the trials of her parents and had the mercy to advocate that their lives should be spared and that they should simply be imprisoned.

            Once it was believed that the Sinless, except for Sven, had all been wiped out, Lugia disbanded the Western Resistance. She then called a meeting on the islands northern coast, which would be attended by herself, the remaining two Legendary Birds and the three Legendary Beasts.

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            On the northern coast of the island, Lugia had called together the Legendary Beasts and Birds. As they all observed her, waiting to hear what she would say, Lugia announced, “I have made an important decision! Seeing as though Lord Ho-oh is dead, the authority over Entei, Raikou and Suicune has fallen to me, his only sister. I have made the decision that it is only right and just that I manumit the three of you. In simpler terms, you are all free to go and live your lives as you wish.”

            Entei, Raikou and Suicune looked a bit stunned and then all slowly bowed to Lugia one last time. Entei then said, “Thank you, Lady Lugia. I hope that we shall all use our new freedom to the best of our abilities.”

             Articuno then asked Lugia, “My Lady, what will we do now? The war is over?”

            Lugia then turned to Articuno and smiled at her, she said, “You are also free to go. Why don’t you go and tell your old friend Arya?”

            Articuno nodded, slightly stunned herself, and then replied, “I will also attempt to live a good life on my own, as you would want me to. If you ever need me, just find me and I will help you in any way that I can.”

            Lugia nodded back at Articuno, right before she flew off to tell Arya the news of her newly gained freedom.

            Zapdos then told Lugia, “You know that I will never leave you My Lady. You did the right thing by freeing the others, though.”

              Lugia then grinned at Zapdos, saying, “I know that you will never leave me. However, I do not think that consort is the proper title for you at this point….”

            Zapdos’s eyes grew wide and he cocked his head as he asked, “Do you mean we are getting married?”

            Lugia simply replied, “Yes, I think so.”

            The two of them then embraced, with their wings, as Entei, Raikou and Suicune all took their leave.

\---

            William, once they had done their part by wiping out the Protectorate forces on the Western Continent, disbanded the idealist army. The various Pokémon who had made up both the Idealist Army and the Western Resistance mostly returned to their home settlements. As for William, he courted and married Rowena and they set up a residence in the coastal fortress, which soon became converted into a hotel and museum.

            Rachel and Thomas returned to their original hometown and returned to their previous lives. They stayed good friends for the rest of their lives.

            Largo led his Pokémon back to Oceankin town and declined to become the new mayor. He instead kept his old job as the captain of the town guard. He remained highly respected by the locals and only retired once he had reached a truly advanced age.

            Regigigas helped wipe of the last vestiges of the Protectorate on the island and then was allowed to return to the ancient tomb where it had rested before. However, it was given certain instructions about under what conditions it would re-awaken. Those instructions included it only responding to orders from one of the resistance’s Legendary Pokémon in the future.

            Mew also helped to destroy what was left of the Protectorate and then prepared to leave the region. Before she departed, she told Arya that she believed that Mewtwo had genuinely loved her. This was despite Mew’s disgust at the first clone that had been made from her DNA and what he had tried to achieve.                            

            Miles and Chloe went into business together, as they had planned for quite some time, after the war. They began what would grow to become the largest trading company in the region. Their company would end up possessing an unrivaled fleet of barges and carts as well as stores all across the Western Continent and the island north of it. They even established stores on the Central Continent, the island to the direct north of it, and the southern coast of the Frontier Continent.

            Joel and Amber revealed to their comrades that they had been romantically involved since just after the resistance had been forced out of the mountain fortress. They ended up getting married soon after the war and settling in their hometown, where Joel became the captain of the town’s watch. Amber devoted her time to trying to help war orphans and the poor Pokémon in the town’s vicinity, seeing as though she knew what that kind of life was like.

            Maurice was able to overcome what remained of his survivor’s guilt and became the manager of an airborne letter, and small parcel, delivery service on his home island. He set up the main office of his business on the ruins of the tower base, since that position had an excellent height advantage over the rest of the island.

            Raikou and Suicune got married officially and then set up a new residence as the Lord and Lady of the central mountain and the territory surrounding it. They allowed any Pokémon who were willing to go settle in their new territory and follow their laws do so. Raikou also officially released Samara from her service to him, in order to let her be with Miranda.

            Articuno met up with Arya and the two of them planned to set off for Semberta City, along with Miranda and Samara who were planning to stay together and eventually wed. After they had purchased a barge, Entei, who desired to go with them and see the frontier, met up with them.

            Entei was allowed to go with the four females and they all reached Semberta City safely. Samara and Miranda got involved with the local Guild office and started their own team, along with two other local Pokémon, one of whom was a descendant of Arya’s old friend Aurora. Samara and Miranda eventually got married and moved into their own house in Semberta City.

            Articuno devoted herself to exploring the frontier and helping to set up new settlements in the wilderness, as well as defending the weaker ones that existed. She stayed in close contact with Arya the whole time.

            As for Arya, herself, she returned to her old job as a consultant to the Semberta City guard. Entei, who had been exploring the frontier himself, approached her soon after she had settled back into her old position. He expressed interest in her, which she at first rebuffed. However, eventually she agreed to a date with him and they were married soon after Samara and Miranda were. Arya became the only known mortal Pokémon in the world’s history to have been romantically involved with two separate Legendary Pokémon.

            Dialga and Palkia returned to the Outer World soon after the war ended. As for Arceus, they visited a number of churches across the world astounding all mortal Pokémon who saw them. Eventually, they departed the mortal world to visit Giratina in the Outer World. However, before leaving, Arceus told Lugia that they had set up many other Pokémon worlds in their absence and that they would explore the multiverse again in the future. Arceus still reassured Lugia that they would do their best to not leave their first creation unattended for nearly as long as they had done the last time. The fall of the Protectorate, even though it had been mostly accomplished without Arceus, was to serve as a threat to all large-scale evildoers from then on. Arceus also lamented the fall of humanity, but said that on many of their other worlds, and vastly more worlds without Pokémon, humanity still lived on.

            Kelly and her Guild associates flew the Akira back to Megapolis, using it to transport the captive Cresselia, Latios and Latias to where they would be held as prisoners. Kelly continued in her role as the leader of the P.A.G. and was well received upon her return to Guild headquarters.

            As for Sven, he married Daphne soon after the war. The two of them managed to gather a large number of donations and found an orphanage in Daphne’s hometown. There, they cared for as many orphan Pokémon from all over the region, many of them made orphans because of the war, as they could.

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            One evening, Sven closed the side door to the orphanage where he lived and worked as quietly as he could. He thought to himself, “Fundraising can be quite the nightmare some days. At least I am home now. Now, off to find Daphne…”

            Daphne then poked her head out from around a corner and said, “There you are, honey. I hope that today’s fundraising went well.”

            Sven sighed and responded, “I cannot hide from you, my darling. As for the fundraising, it was not easy, but I did manage to secure another 4,000 Poké in donations for the next month.”

            Daphne smiled warmly at her husband and then turned her head away from him and shouted, “Kids, Sven has secured more money for us!”

            A chorus of voices shouting, “Yay!” could be heard as a large number of young Pokémon rushed out from upstairs and began to swarm around him. Sven then said, “Well, I do it all for them. And for you, Daphne my love.”

            Daphne giggled and then embraced her husband saying, “I love you, Sven.”

            He returned the embrace of his wife, as the Pokémon children bounced around them. Pan up from the orphanage into the night sky above the coastal town.

                        Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ruins of Civilization

                                                            The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that finishes off the core ROC story! My sincerest thanks to everyone who actually managed to read this far. I hope you enjoyed reading my work. As for what comes next, Ruination will probably begin posting next Tuesday. Sometime after that, my new, non-ROC, story entitled, "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: In the Wake of Legends" will begin posting. After that, I will probably take a break from Pokémon writing. My next story project will probably not be PMD based and may not even get posted on this website. Keep reading to see what updates come up in the future. Once again, thank you all for reading this far.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone was wondering why the original Legendary Bird Trio had not yet appeared... there is your answer. And yes, I am aware that there is no canon basis for that. But, this is a very alternate universe, after all.


End file.
